


Growing Up Sato

by littlebigg



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, High School, Slice of Life, Step-siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-30 23:18:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6446203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebigg/pseuds/littlebigg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra and Asami don’t really get along after Korra stole Asami’s boyfriend. When they find out Asami’s father and Korra’s mother have been seeing each other and are engaged, they are forced to get along when Korra and her mother move into the Sato household. But when Korra and Asami start getting closer, they have to fight the unexpected attraction growing towards each other as they are soon to be step-sisters.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Very slightly inspired by the manga Citrus by Saburouta.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That Prissy Beautiful Elegant Rich Girl

“You’re engaged… to Hiroshi Sato?” Korra threw her head back and burst out in a roar of laughter as her mother stood there in the kitchen waiting for her daughter to finish. “You’re joking right, mum?”

After Korra finished laughing she looked at her mother who only had a serious expression on her face. Korra slowly and hesitantly repeated the question again, “You’re joking right, mum?”

“No honey. It’s not a joke. Hiroshi and I have been seeing each other for the last six months. And he asked me to marry him a couple of days ago.”

“Six months? And I only find out now.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but I never intended to meet anyone after your father and I divorced and we moved here. But Hiroshi makes me happy. You’ll understand one day when you find someone special.”

Korra could only sit there stunned in silence. Her mother walked over to her and placed an arm on her shoulder. She finally looked into Senna’s eyes, “If he makes you happy… but really? Hiroshi Sato? Anyone else could have been better. Even that homeless guy who catches the fish in the river for his dinner.”

“Okay… I think your problem isn’t with Hiroshi. It’s with his daughter, isn’t it?”

“Fine. But she’s so prissy… and beautiful and elegant and rich. And probably better at everything than I am. Having someone like her for my step-sister is not good for my self-esteem.”

“You have plenty of self-esteem. And Asami’s a nice girl. She’s smart and kind and helps her dad with charity fundraisers. I don’t know why you have a problem with her especially after you stole _her_ boyfriend Mako.”

“Wait, you know about that?”

Senna gently stroked Korra’s hair. “Everybody knows about that, dear. Even that homeless guy who catches the fish in the river.”

Korra let out a groan. Senna placed a kiss on her forehead before she turned to walk out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, Korra heard her shout from the other room, “Oh by the way. We’re moving in with the Satos this Saturday.”

“What???”

+++

“What???” Asami stood in her father’s study with her arms folded.

“And they’re moving in this Saturday.”

“What? How come you didn’t tell me you were seeing someone earlier?”

“I’m sorry Asami. I should have told you.” Hiroshi stood up from his chair to give his daughter a hug which Asami returned.

“It’s okay dad. I like Senna but her daughter…?”

“I know you guys aren’t friends but you’ll be step-sisters in the future. Can you try and get along with her for me, please? You’ll only be here for the next year until you graduate and go off to college. And I’m going to need the company in this big house when you leave.”

Asami sighed. “She’s the one whose stubborn and arrogant. But I can be civil for your sake.”

+++

The day of the move came. Korra and Asami had passed each other in the hallways at school during the week but never exchanged words. Asami and Hiroshi stood at the driveway to greet Korra and Senna. Korra politely shook Hiroshi’s hand and gave Asami a salute and Asami rolled her eyes in return. Asami probably gave Korra’s dog Naga a friendlier greeting than to the owner. 

The movers bought all of their things into the house while Asami gave Korra and Senna a tour of the house. Korra whistled internally as Asami showed them the giant backyard which had a pool and half a basketball court. Next was the pool room, then the library, Hiroshi’s study, the kitchen and the dining room. The master suite was on the first floor. Upstairs were the rest of the bedrooms and Korra was clearly excited when she saw a room full of exercise equipment.

“And this is your room.” Asami led Korra to the bedroom next to the gym room. Senna had gone downstairs after Hiroshi wanted to show her the master suite leaving Asami and Korra alone. The boxes of Korra’s things had been placed near the bed. “Thanks… You have a nice house. Which one is your room?”

“Why?” Asami narrowed her eyes. 

“I’m not going to sneak in to read your journal or anything. Contrary to what you think, I do want us to get along.” Korra sat on the bed and noticed how soft it was compared to her bed back at the apartment she used to live in.

“It’s the one next to the stairs. I’ll see you at dinner Korra.”

+++

Contrary to Korra’s statement about her wanting to get along, by the third day of living together, Asami already had a list of things that Korra did that annoyed her. 

1\. Korra likes to make loud burps after dinner.  
2\. She intentionally raps loudly in the hallway.  
3\. Doesn’t replace the toilet roll.  
4\. Leaves the toilet seat up… for some reason.

And the number one thing… she likes to walk around the house after school with only a bra and pants on.

“Are you allergic to t-shirts or something?” Asami had chided Korra about it.

“What? I get really sweaty bike riding to and from school.”

“You can ride to school with me you know.”

“Do you want me to lose this amazing figure?” Asami rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that week.

Although, by the Friday Asami had to admit to herself this annoyed her the most because Korra had a pretty damn good body – she kept that last bit out of her journal since she had a feeling Korra did secretly read it. She wanted to get back at Korra and she noticed that Korra had a hard time waking up in the mornings and loved to sleep in on the weekend. On the Sunday morning, Asami woke up at 5:00AM. She changed into her sports bra and leggings, grabbed her iPod and made her way to the gym room next to Korra’s bedroom.

She connected her iPod to the speakers and turned on the Nicki Minaj, full volume, and jumped on the treadmill. Soon, Korra stumbled in with an annoyed look on her face and bed hair. She turned down the stereo volume quite aggressively. “It’s so early. Don’t you know mornings are evil?”

“This is my early morning workout. Do you want me to lose this amazing figure?”

Korra groaned and slammed the gym door shut causing Asami to chuckle to herself.

+++

“So, what’s it like living with the Satos?” Bolin asked. Him, Korra and Mako were having lunch in their usual spot in the courtyard at school.

“Fine. I think I know how to push Asami’s buttons now. It’s great.”

“Remember when you spent all your time in Asami’s bedroom.” Bolin said to Mako and Mako turned red. 

“Bo!” Mako threw a carrot stick at Bolin’s face. Korra looked a bit flustered too. Korra and Mako had broken up a while ago but had remained good friends. The last thing she wanted to think about was Mako and Asami possibly being intimate with each other when they dated.

“Have you walked in on her naked yet?” Bolin didn’t know when to stop with the comments.

“No! I haven’t.” Korra lied through her teeth. She had in fact walked in on Asami naked the day before. Asami hadn’t locked the bathroom door and she stepped out of the shower just as Korra walked in to shower. Asami promptly kicked her out of the bathroom which Korra was thankful for as she had blushed from the sight of Asami naked.

+++

Lucky for Asami, Korra hadn’t teased her at all about the incident in the bathroom which was surprising since Korra did love to tease her about anything and everything. Asami finished her homework and headed downstairs to watch TV but Korra was already there sitting on the couch… and even more surprisingly wearing a t-shirt. It didn’t look like Korra was paying much attention so she sat on the other end of the couch, grabbed the remote and changed the channel to the news.

“Hey! I was watching cartoons.” Korra grabbed the remote and changed the channel back.

“You’re like 16, why are you still watching cartoons?” Asami grabbed it again and changed the channels.

“Cartoons are for teenagers too. The news is boring.”

“You’re so self-absorbed!” Asami shouted. 

“I was here first! Watch the news on your laptop!”

They began arguing more when Hiroshi walked in. “Girls! Please. I’ve had a long day. The last thing I want to do is hear you two arguing again. Go outside and play basketball or go for a swim.”

The two girls looked at each other when Korra quickly suggested they play basketball. They put on their sneakers, tied their hair up and headed to the court in the backyard.

“Thanks Korra. My dad hasn’t yelled at me like that for ages.”

“Hey you started it.” Korra grabbed the ball on the ground and shot it at the basket. She got the ball in and passed it to Asami who also sunk the ball into the basket. “We should have a competition.”

“What type?”

“See who can shoot the most free throws in a row?”

“Too easy. What does the winner get?”

Korra rubbed her chin deep in thought. “The loser has to be the winner’s servant for the next week.”

“Deal! I’ll go first.”

+++

Korra watched as Asami sank basket after basket. “…21, 22.” Asami missed the next shot. “Damn. Okay, you have to beat 22.”

“Easy.”

 

“…20, 21.” Korra was determined to beat Asami but before the ball left her hands, she heard Asami let out a very unladylike sneeze, causing her to shoot the ball off-centre. It missed the basket completely hitting the backboard instead. “No fair, you distracted me.”

“I’m sorry… but that means I win.”

“You suck.” Korra folded her arms and turned away. “And that was a very ungraceful sneeze. I want a rematch.”

“Nope, no redosies. You have to do what I say for the next week. I’m the king of the castle.”

They started walking back to the house. “You can be the most immaturist mature person I know sometimes.”

“Says the person who still watches Spongebob Squarepants.” Asami gave Korra a playful shove. “Besides, you bring out the worst in me.”

Korra was about to argue with her again but she spotted her mother and Hiroshi through the kitchen window. Her and Asami stopped to spy on them. Senna was placing vegetables on a plate while Hiroshi snuck up to hug her from behind. They smiled as they hugged each other. “I haven’t seen my mother look that happy in a long time. She’d always come home after work and smile but I could tell she was forcing it.”

“Same with my father.” Asami said. “Ever since my mother died, he’d buried himself in work and barely took care of himself. I think that’s what made him sick.”

“But if he hadn’t had been sick he wouldn’t have met my mother at the hospital, I suppose. It’s strange how these things happen. Look, I’m going to try to be less of a jerk while we’re living together. I promise I won’t rap in the hallways and I’ll put the toilet seat down after I’m done.”

“Wait, why did you put it up in the first place?”

“Just to annoy you.”

“Geez, Korra. Okay, I won’t work out in the mornings on weekends. And I’ll let you watch cartoons in the afternoon.”

“And I won’t read your journal anymore. Deal?” Korra and Asami shook hands.

“Deal! Wait… what?” Asami said. “Oh I’m going to have fun having you as a servant this next week.” It was Korra’s turn to roll her eyes as they walked into the house to help their parents set the table for dinner.


	2. Clauses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After losing to Asami in the shooting competition, Korra spends the week being Asami's servant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for the comments and kudos. I'm glad you are enjoying this fanfic.
> 
> Just some notes, I come from a place where it's summer in December and we ride kangaroos to school (jokes), so I've based the seasons on where I'm from. And also I am hoping to be able to update this fic at least once a fortnight.

“We can stop if you want.”

“Nope… I can do this. Give me a second. You’re heavier than you look.” Korra steeled herself. She was face down on the ground in a plank position. She let out a deep breath. Slowly and with sheer willpower she pushed up to complete her 30th and final penalty push-up.

“You did it!” Asami hopped off Korra’s back and offered a hand up to Korra which she took. “I hope you’ve learnt your lesson about not addressing me properly.”

Korra rubbed her aching arms and her back. “Yes, Lady Asami. Where did you learn to throw someone down like that?”

“My dad made me do self-defence classes when I was younger.”

“And here I thought you were just some priss…” Korra thought better than to finish that sentence as she didn't want to provoke the Lady Asami even more.

‘Lady Asami’ was how Korra had to address Asami for the next week. It was written in Clause 3.2 of the twenty-page contract that Asami had drawn up following Korra’s loss in their basketball competition the night before. The contract outlined the terms of Korra’s servitude and Asami read out the whole thing while Korra completed her push-ups.

Asami glanced at her watch and tapped it. “Korra, you haven’t given me my hourly compliment yet.”

Korra coughed then wiped the sweat off her brow. “The Lady Asami, your green eyes shine like the universe in spring.”

Although the compliment was dripping with sarcasm, Asami laughed out loud anyway. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at 7 for my wake-up call. And don’t forget to dress appropriately. I’m enjoying this.”

“I bet you are.” Korra let out what had almost become a trademark groan.

+++

When Hiroshi awoke on the Saturday morning, he headed to the kitchen to make his morning coffee but he stopped by the parlour window. Outside was Asami sitting on a pool chair in her swimmers with Korra standing behind her in a maid outfit looking dour and giving Asami a massage. He watched in astonishment but after a couple of seconds, he merely shrugged, “At least Korra’s wearing a top.”

Hiroshi continued his walk to the kitchen. Senna was sitting at the dining table reading a document and sipping on coffee. Hiroshi asked, “What’s going on with those two?”

“Just a competition the girls had. Korra lost and she has to do whatever Asami says according to this contract.”

Senna handed Hiroshi the document. He flipped through it and noted how professional it looked despite the title page where under ‘Servant Agreement’, the words ‘Korra is my bitch for a week’ were delicately written. “Oh, she’s even defined ‘My Bitch’ in Clause 1 – Definitions and interpretation.”

Senna laughed. “Asami will make a great CEO one day.”

+++

At the pool, Asami moaned as Korra massaged her shoulders in what seemed like the right way. “Mmm, that feels so good Korra.”

Korra continued the motions while trying to ignore the weird sex noises Asami was making. Asami’s skin was soft to touch and she had a perfect view of her cleavage from where she was standing. Korra suddenly felt hot and she jerked her hands away when Asami’s moans became almost exaggerated. “Okay, do you have to make those weird sex noises?”

“What? I can’t help it. You’re great with your hands… are you blushing?”

“No... It’s just hot out here in this outfit.”

 

The rest of the weekend was super fun for Asami but agony for Korra. Not that Korra could blame Asami since she’d probably subject her to the same if she had won instead. Korra made fruit smoothies for Asami and Senna which they drank in the pool lounge chairs while Korra fanned them. On the hour, Korra said dryly “The Lady Asami… your hair is like silken strands that wave in the wind.”

Asami giggled again, “Where do you get these from?”

“You wouldn’t know it but Korra is quite the romantic.” Senna chimed in and Korra shot her a death glare. “When she was eight-years-old…”

“Mum!”

“… she was quite a handful when we were living in the Southern Water Tribe. But she was rather taken with one of the older kids in school. She used to gush about her all the time and wanted to make her something special to show her feelings. Korra promised me she’d behave if I taught her how to sculpt flowers out of ice. We spent the whole night sculpting flowers because Korra wanted them perfect. I’d never seen her so determined.”

“Mum!”

“She gave the flowers to her crush and Korra was so well-behaved up until she found out her crush had a boyfriend. She went back to being her hot-headed self after that.”

“Aw.” Asami had been leaning on her elbow and listening intently. She turned to Korra and teased, “Valentine’s Day is this week. Will you be making ice flowers for anyone Korra?”

“I hate you both.” Was all Korra said.

+++

On Valentine’s Day in Republic City High, the school student council organised roses that the students could buy and then give either anonymously or not to other students. Asami usually gave roses to her friends and received a few from the guys at school that liked her. It was only Korra’s second Valentine’s Day spent in Republic City and she received five last year – probably from Bolin. But when Korra and Asami arrived home from school that day, Korra was holding twice as much roses as Asami and also a ukulele in her other hand.

“Who did you get the roses from this year dear? And did you take your ukulele to school? You’ve never played that in front of people.” Senna said. She and Hiroshi were seated at the dining table which had a large bouquet of flowers sitting on top of it already.

“Well, the Lady Asami overheard me playing it on the weekend when she let me have a break from being her servant. And then she told me that I had to serenade Mako at school with it in front of everyone or she’d ask out the son of the Cabbage Corp CEO on a date for me.” 

“He would have said yes too.” Asami added.

“So I thought what could be worse, embarrassing myself in front of the whole school or having to go on a date with that guy and listen to him talk about cabbages the whole time.”

Senna and Hiroshi couldn’t contain their laughter as Asami said, “I never knew ‘Teenage Dream’ could sound so much sweeter sung with a ukulele.”

“A few people gave me their roses after my performance.” Korra walked over to her mother and gave her the roses she had received as well as a kiss on the cheek. “Happy Valentine’s Day mum.”

Asami followed suit and gave her roses to her father. “Happy Valentine’s Day dad.”

“And mother… since I no longer know the concept of shame. I’d like to play a song for you and Hiroshi.”

Korra ushered Senna and Hiroshi to the living room with Asami. When they were seated, Korra took her place on the floor. She cleared her throat and strummed the ukulele once before giving the Lady Asami her hourly compliment. “By the way, Lady Asami… how has your waist not broken from the burden of supporting your beauty.”

“Aw, shucks.” Asami flipped her hair and fluttered her eyelashes at Korra which made Korra’s stomach feel funny for a reason she couldn’t identify.

Korra cleared her throat again, she strummed and began to sing the song. Senna immediately cheered and whispered to Hiroshi that the song was one of her favourite’s. “ _So true, funny how it seems. Always in time, but never in line for dreams…_ ”

She sang half of the song and was almost distracted by Asami who was smiling throughout the whole thing. When she finished, Senna got up to give her a hug and told her what a lovely treat that was. Hiroshi gave Korra a firm business-like handshake while Asami gave her a really tight hug. Korra tried her best not to think about that funny feeling in her stomach from having Asami pressed up against her.

+++

There were a lot of back rubs, prank phone calls to Cabbage Corp, making bubble baths, attempting to make but burning cookies, and shoulder massages that followed during Korra’s week of servitude. But the strangest request came Friday afternoon when Asami asked Korra to buy her a Lego set from the toy store after school.

“I like Lego but I didn’t want anyone to see me buying it.” Asami explained to her when Korra asked why.

“Because Lego is for kids? Wait, didn’t you scold me for watching Spongebob?” Korra was sprawled on the couch in the living room while Asami sat on the floor and took out her Lego pieces and placed them on the coffee table.

“Yeah but Lego helps with creativity and lateral thinking. You watch a show about a talking sponge who laughs like this.” Asami let out a dolphin sounding laugh and Korra just stared at her in amazement.

“… You really nailed that laugh. Oh my gosh. It’s 8:50pm. Ten more minutes until freedom. Then I can go burn the clauses out of that agreement.”

“Oh come on. You loved being my bitch.”

Korra sat up on the couch. “I hate to ask this but does the Lady Asami have any last requests?”

“Yes actually. You can help me build this starship?”

 

Three hours and one built Lego starship later, Asami and Korra wished each other goodnight. Korra laid in bed facing the purple unicorn plush toy that she secretly bought while at the toy store because it was cute. She began to speak to it like it was a sentient being, “So… Asami’s kind of cool, right? This past week being her bitch wasn’t actually too bad. Do you want to know a secret? I think I’ve figured out what the strange feeling in my stomach is every time we touch… … … it’s indigestion. It was from the raw cookie dough I ate this week and it still hasn’t gone away. Yeah that’s what it is… I definitely am not getting a crush on my future step-sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To answer Asami's question on where Korra gets her compliments from... Kannazuki no Miko.


	3. What's Your Favourite Scary Movie?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bolin asks Korra to ask Asami to ask Opal out to the movies.

The beginning of autumn always left Asami feeling a sense of melancholy but this year was different. Asami sat in the cushioned window seat reading a book while Naga slept on the floor next to her. Hiroshi and Senna were out and it sounded like Korra was in the shower. She had become used to the company of the new-ish household members. Senna was kind and nurturing. Naga gave the best hugs. Korra was fun to be around although she’d probably never admit that to her face. Asami had replayed Korra serenading the family on Valentine’s Day a lot in her mind lately and the thought bought a grin to her face.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Korra must have finished her thirty-minute shower because she was now downstairs wearing an oversized t-shirt with Lady Gaga on it and her long dark brown hair was wet. “Did you put daily reminders in my phone again to change my panties?”

“No. There was just a funny part in the book I was reading.” Korra gave Asami an incredulous look when she saw that she was reading George Orwell’s 1984.

Asami realised and quickly put the book on the seat with the cover face down. “What’s up?”

“Well, there’s a classic horror movie playing at the movies tomorrow that Bolin and I were going to go watch if you and Opal wanted to come.”

“Oh, Opal loves scary movies.” Asami usually watched them with her eyes covered. 

“Yeah, I heard that she loved them. That’s why I wanted to see if you and Opal wanted to join us.”

“I didn’t realise you and Opal were friends. Wait, why do you need me to ask her then if you guys talk?”

They stared at each other for a moment, Korra squinted her eyes and gave her a cheesy grin to avoid answering the question but her resolve finally broke. Korra took a deep breath and spoke really fast. “Okay, Bolin overheard you guys talking during lunch at school yesterday. He heard Opal say how she loves scary movies but he hates scary movies but he likes Opal and he really wants to hang out with her because he thinks she’s cool and stuff but he hasn’t really spoken to her at all except the occasional “hello” at school. So he asked me to ask you to ask Opal if she wanted to go to the movies and he’d like us two to come as well just in case it gets awkward just the two of them alone together.”

It was Asami’s turn to give Korra a look of incredulity after her impressive spiel. “Didn’t Bolin graffiti a wall to confess his love to you last year? What happened to those grand romantic gestures to ask a girl out?”

Korra was now seated on the other end of the window seat catching her breath. Naga had woken up and nuzzled Korra’s legs. “Well, I rejected him so his self-confidence took a hit. And then he saw me kiss his brother as he was coming back from completing his community service for vandalising that wall.” Korra paused in a moment of introspection. “Look, I was a jerk back then but I’m trying to be less of a jerk now and helping a friend out. Please?”

“Alright but I’m doing this for Bopal.” Asami picked up her phone to send Opal a text.

“Bopal?”

+++

The next day, it was barely five minutes into the movie and Bolin was already clinging on to somebody’s arm except it was Korra’s. 

“Bo…” Asami heard Korra whisper but he didn’t budge. “Bo, I can’t feel my arm.” Korra pried her arm loose from Bolin’s death grip and she nudged him to the left where Opal was sitting. He whimpered but he grabbed onto Opal’s arm. Fortunately, they’d eaten all the popcorn before the movie started otherwise Asami imagined all that buttery goodness would be a mess on the floor by now.

On the big screen, the masked killer appeared after terrorising the young blonde girl over the phone for the last ten minutes. Asami was somewhat scared so she absentmindedly placed her hand on top of Korra’s on the arm rest and squeezed it. She felt Korra’s hand tense up but she didn’t remove it from underneath Asami’s. After a few moments, Korra gently pushed Asami’s hand off but only to fold the arm rest between them back and slink her hand around Asami’s waist, “Come here scaredy cat.”

Asami scooted closer and rested her head on Korra’s shoulder. They watched the rest of the movie like that with Asami occasionally covering her eyes during the scary bits and Korra giggling at her. After the movie finished, Bolin looked the most cheerful although he was probably the most scared after Asami. “Phew, that was fun.”

“My arm is numb.” Opal said while they walked to the burger joint to have lunch.

Asami and Bolin ordered first and grabbed a table while Korra and Opal ordered their meals. Once they were seated, Bolin gave Asami a knowing smile before asking, “Did you enjoy the movie? Specifically, did you enjoy canoodling with Korra during the movie?”

“What…?” Asami spat out the drink she started drinking all over their table causing other patrons to stop their conversations and stare. 

Bolin gave them a sheepish look before the patrons returned to their meals. Asami tried to redirect the conversation. “Weren’t you too busy cuddling with Opal to notice?”

“Oh come on. You two looked cute and snuggly together. Korra and Asami. Korrasami.” 

Bolin started making kissing gestures with his hands as Asami wiped her drink off the table feeling kind of flustered. She didn’t really think anything of it, since Korra was probably just being friendly and also because she was too busy being shit-scared from the movie, but it was kind of nice being held by Korra. Actually more than nice. Asami snapped out of her thoughts when Bolin was smiling at her again. “You know our parents are getting married and that she’ll be my step-sister soon. That would be weird.”

“… and hot.” Bolin added.

Asami was about to respond but Opal and Korra finally joined them. Bolin never stopped smiling at Asami as the four of them discussed the movie they just watched. When their food came, Asami and Korra ordered the same meal and meal size but Korra clearly got more chips than Asami. When Asami pointed it out, Korra proclaimed, “You’re just not as charismatic as me.” But Korra lifted her plate to give Asami some of her chips. Later, when Korra shared her drink with Asami and Asami drank out of the same straw Korra used, Asami could practically feel Bolin squealing inside.

“You guys totally indirectly kissed just before.” Bolin whispered to Asami when they made their way to the big arcade with the bumper cars. He seemed more interested in teasing Asami about Korra than he did about hanging out with Opal.

“I will indirectly punch you in the face soon.” Asami whispered back and Bolin laughed.

“What are you two whispering about?” Korra called out from behind them. “Opal’s getting jealous.”

They turned around to find Opal blushing at Korra’s comment. Bolin stopped and waited for Opal while Korra walked over to Asami’s side. Korra asked almost shyly, “So, do you want to ride a bumper car with me?”

“I’m going to have to politely decline.” Asami answered. “If you drive a bumper car the way you drive a real car… then no. We might crash into a pole.”

“The pole got in my way.” Korra said. “Fine, whatever.”

+++

It had been two weeks since the day at the movies. Korra had somehow managed to drive the bumper car off the track and into the fencing but all in all, that day was possibly the most fun Asami had. But Asami hadn’t seen Korra much the past two weeks even though they lived together. Korra had a project due so she spent most of the time after school in the garage workshop at home because she studied better there apparently. Asami hadn’t seen her father much either but that was nothing out of the ordinary since he tended to work late nights.

Asami finally got to see them properly again at her birthday party which was held at the house. Asami had invited her friends Ginger, Opal, and a few other girls in her class. Mako and Bolin were there as well. Bolin was having fun playing with the Lego mini-figures that came with the Lego starship she and Korra had built. He started making “pew pew” noises with the figure that had a laser pistol. He made Opal and the others laugh but she said, “You’re so childish.”

“Don’t worry. Asami was doing the exact same thing when we were building it.” Korra said causing Asami to blush. Luckily, Senna came into the living room to tell everyone the food was ready before her friends could comment about it.

Senna made kebabs and chicken wings which everyone liked. During cake cutting time, Asami touched the bottom and was forced to kiss Mako on the cheek. She left a lipstick stain on his cheek and he was blushing furiously. When it was present opening time, most of Asami’s friends bought her jewellery and perfume. Hiroshi, Senna, and Korra bought her a new helmet for her moped. But Asami’s favourite present was the mixed tape, on an actual cassette tape, that Korra made her.

On the cassette case, Korra had written the words “Asami’s Jams” on it and Asami read from the birthday card that Korra wrote her with her nice penmanship. “…A definitive collection of hip-hop and R&B tracks. I can’t wait to listen to it tonight. Thanks Korra.” Asami got up to give Korra a hug and she saw Bolin in the corner of her eye making those kissing gestures with his hands. He quickly put his hands back to his side when Mako looked at him.

Later that night, when the guests had left, Korra helped Senna clean up. They told Asami to go relax since it was her birthday so Asami went to the balcony with the cassette player from the garage to listen to her jams. She stood by the railing and stared out at the backyard where Naga was chasing her toy ball. She heard the door slide open and Korra walked over and stood beside her. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“It was pretty good.” Asami replied.

“I, ah, made you this too.” Korra fumbled with something in her pocket and clumsily placed it in Asami’s hand.

Asami looked at it in the dim balcony light. It was a necklace with a metal paper airplane pendant on it. “You made this?”

Korra rubbed the back of her neck. “Your dad helped me actually. We went through like so much metal.”

“This is what you were doing in the workshop for the last two weeks?” Korra nodded. “And a paper plane because I listen to that song all the time?”

Korra nodded again.

“You know she’s not actually talking about a paper plane in that song.” Asami said and they both laughed. “Thanks Korra. This is great.”

“You’re welcome.” 

Korra stared out at the backyard and Asami took that opportunity to lean in and give Korra a kiss on the cheek to show her appreciation for the birthday gifts but Korra turned her head at the wrong time, or the right time if you were to ask someone like Bolin, and their lips met instead. After a very long second, Asami pulled back in shock, “I’m so sorry, I was aiming for your cheek.”

“That’s okay…” Korra looked like she was blushing. There was a silence between them and they were looking anywhere but each other before Korra said, “I should go to bed. Happy birthday Asami.”

“Thanks… good night Korra.” Asami heard Korra leave. As Keith Sweat’s ‘Twisted’ played on the cassette player, Asami let out a breath still feeling flustered from that second-long kiss she just shared with Korra and mumbled to herself. “Oh crap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the next Growing Up Sato...
> 
> WILD TEEN PARTY!


	4. Wild Teen Party!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra. Asami. A bottle of beer and a drunken kiss.
> 
> The son of the Cabbage Corp CEO brags about throwing a party for a select group of friends while his parents are away for the weekend. So naturally, the students of Republic City High who weren’t invited decide to crash it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you to everyone for your comments and kudos. I appreciate it a lot!

To say that being accidentally kissed on the lips by Asami didn’t drive Korra crazy would be a lie. It drove her crazy enough to continue having one-sided conversations with her purple unicorn plush toy.

“It felt like that feeling you get in winter when you realise strawberries are in season again. Or at Narook’s whenever you get a free refill of noodles. Y’know what I mean?” The Purple Unicorn responded just as one might expect. With silence.

Korra stared at the unicorn’s purple eyes. It stared blankly at Korra’s blue eyes, if it was real, it would almost certainly be wondering why Korra’s feelings were so food-related.

Korra let that kiss play in her mind again. Asami’s soft lips pressed against hers for a second, the smell of her perfume. Korra felt judgemental purple eyes on her. “You’re right. She’s my soon-to-be step-sister. Nothing will ever happen.”

She turned off her bedside lamp before she buried her head in her pillow and hugged her unicorn. She internally cursed her mother for going and getting engaged to someone whose daughter could be the most beautiful girl in the world.

+++

Friday night, Asami and Opal sat on Ginger’s mattress gossiping. Asami was happy to spend the night away from the house and away from her very confusing feelings.

It hadn’t been awkward with Korra ever since that misaimed kiss or anything. However, Asami was slowly becoming a mess having to see Korra first thing in the morning when she had bed hair, or when they passed each other at school and she’d flash Asami that lopsided grin, or watching her look so cheerful while playing with Naga in the afternoons. She internally cursed her father for going and getting engaged to someone whose daughter could be the most cutest girl in the world.

“He wouldn’t shut up about how he has that big house all to himself. And that he was throwing a party tonight that only his friends are invited to.” Ginger had been telling her friends the horror of having to be lab partners with the son of the Cabbage Corp CEO at school today.

“He keeps telling me that his dad makes better cars than my dad. It’s like that’s good to know.” Asami said when Ginger received a text message.

Ginger laughed after she read the text she received from Tahno. “Looks like it’s an open house party.”

“Did he invite the whole school now?” Opal asked looking kind of shocked.

“Yes but he doesn’t know that yet.”

+++

On the other side of town, in the basement of their grandmother’s house, Mako received the same text message that Ginger did. He read it aloud to Bolin and Korra who were sitting on bean bags playing video games. “Party at Gen’s house. Free booze.”

“Oh man, he would not shut up about that today.” Bolin said without tearing his gaze away from the television.

“We should go.” Mako nonchalantly said. “I want to see the look on his face when Tahno shows up with the whole grade and a beer keg.”

“Nah, I’ve got everything I need right here. Video games, nachos, Mountain Dew.” Bolin replied. Mako looked at Korra who merely shrugged.

Mako got a text from Ginger this time that he knew would interest Bolin. “Opal will be there.”

Bolin immediately perked up. “Why are you two just sitting there? We have a party to go to.”

+++

Asami almost felt sorry for Gen, the son of the Cabbage Corp CEO, watching him stressing out holding the sides of his head and shrieking at the uninvited guests to not touch the cabbage designed vases that decorated the house or use them as ashtrays. The party wasn’t too out of control aside from a few drunken teenagers frantically making out in the bathtub and a few broken beer bottles.

She listened to Tahno’s friend Ming tell the story of how Gen made the mistake of ordering pizza from the place that he worked at. “And that’s how we penetrated his fancy house’s security gate.” Ming’s hand was on the wall next to her and his face was really close to Asami’s now. “Speaking of penetrate…”

Asami quickly scoffed down the contents of her plastic cup. “Oh look my drink is empty…” She shuffled to the side away from his incoming advances and walked to where the drinks were.

“I’m disappointed Gen doesn’t actually live in a giant cabbage house.” Asami heard a voice behind her as she refilled her cup and she turned around.

She wanted at least one night away from the other girl but Asami couldn’t help but grin back seeing Korra there with a white t-shirt and skin-tight jeans. “The lime green coloured walls kind of makes up for it. Did you come here with Mako and Bolin?”

“Yeah. It was either that or stay with their grandmother but she keeps telling me how muscular I am every time she sees me.” 

Asami laughed and gave Korra’s bicep a squeeze. “She’s not wrong Korra.”

Korra grumbled and Asami spotted Bolin staring at them with his thick left eyebrow raised. Asami removed her hand to stop from further enticing Bolin’s teasing. Korra only looked from Asami to Bolin in confusion.

+++

Seeing Asami standing there in her snug pinstriped top and tight red skirt, Korra tried not to look Asami up and down again or let her thoughts go to unclean places. She only meant to say hi to Asami and then she’d go off and talk to some of her classmates who were there. But someone shouted “Spin the Bottle” and Asami led her to the room where some people were gathered around about to play Spin the Bottle.

“People actually play this at parties?” Korra chuckled at the sight of people sitting in a circle among them was Mako, Bolin, and Ginger. Tahno set the empty beer bottle in the middle and then sat down beside Ginger.

“I may have implanted the idea in Tahno’s mind.” Opal whispered beside her. And all this time Korra thought Opal was the innocent one. Before she knew it, Opal had wrapped her arms around Korra and Asami’s shoulders and dragged them to join the circle of eager teenagers almost spilling Korra’s drink. Opal ignored the sounds of protest coming from the two.

Asami sat on her knees to avoid flashing everyone. Korra crossed her legs but the room was cosy enough with the eleven other people participating so her legs rested on top of Asami’s and Opal’s.

“I’ll go first.” Tahno said and he spun the bottle. Korra internally freaked out. There were eleven other people there so the chances of her spin landing on Asami was… arithmetic wasn’t Korra’s strong suit but the chances were slim hopefully. Tahno’s spin landed on one of the girls in Asami’s class and they kissed for five seconds.

There was a lot of love going around in that room. Mako kissed Ginger, Ginger kissed Tahno, Opal kissed Ming much to Bolin’s disappointment, Bolin kissed one of Tahno’s female friends much to Opal’s disappointment. Now, it was Korra’s turn. Her plan was to spin the bottle as softly as she could so that it couldn’t make a full 360-degree spin meaning it wouldn’t land on Asami who was sitting next to her. But she miscalculated horribly, and the bottle made a painstakingly slow stop on… Asami.

“I can’t kiss Asami. We’re going to be step-sisters soon.” Korra pointed out matter-of-factly and Asami nodded in agreement.

“Your parents aren’t married yet.” Opal refuted and the others started a chant of “kiss, kiss, kiss”.

“Really guys?” Korra’s objections were drowned out by the chant getting louder but she groaned and turned to Asami looking apologetic. She stared at Asami’s red lips and closed her eyes and leaned in slowly… very slowly. However, their lips never touched as Asami let out a panic noise but not from the almost kissing. Korra, from sheer nervousness, had spilled her beer all over Asami’s skirt and on her thighs. “Oh my god, I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

 

The two girls found a bathroom, after kicking out the drunken teenagers frantically making out in the bathtub. 

“I am so so sorry.”

“It’s okay Korra.” Asami dried herself with the towel that Korra handed her. “It’s not the first time I’ve had sticky fluid spilled on me.”

“Ew. Gross Asami.”

“I’m talking about motor oil, Korra.”

“Beer pong!” They heard someone shout from outside, most likely Tahno again.

“Sounds fun.” Asami placed the towel on the bathtub.

“And there’s very slim chances of us having to kiss playing beer pong.” At the look Asami gave her, Korra quickly added. “Not that I don’t want to kiss you or anything… I mean, in front of people. I meant, not in front of people…”

“Yeah, of course.” Asami said putting Korra out of her misery.

+++

“You missed again.”

“Don’t blame me. Blame it on the ah ah ah ah ah alcohol.”

“I’m the one carrying the team.” Quite literally since Asami had her arm around Korra’s shoulder and using her to stand up straight. Asami was very tipsy at that point and had not sunk the ball into Tahno and Ginger’s cups at all.

“How are you not drunk right now?” Asami embraced Korra and blew into her ear. Ginger took a shot and missed luckily.

“We Southern Water Tribers have a high tolerance for alcohol… and also I may have thrown up in one of those cabbage vases earlier.” Korra gently pried Asami off of her aware that Tahno and the other guys watching them play beer pong were enjoying Asami being affectionate with her.

She let Asami keep her arm around her. Korra threw the ball across the table and it landed in a cup which Ginger then drank.

“Woo! Did you see that?” Korra said to Asami but Asami was staring off into the house almost distracted. “Are you alright?”

“What’s my ex-boyfriend doing here?”

Korra was puzzled. “Mako? He’s been here the whole night. I know he acts like he doesn’t have a personality most of the time but he’s not that forgettable.”

“No… Haru.” Asami looked serious now. “I’m just going to go outside to get some air.”

Korra didn’t recall the name straight away but she remembered the entry in Asami’s journal that she read back when she would read it for fun. Haru, that guy that Asami dated last year after she broke up with Mako. They were quite serious until he broke up with her after he graduated.

“Okay.” Korra watched Asami stumble away thinking about going after her but she decided against it.

+++

No longer the happy drunk that she was, Asami sat on the bench outside near the front door feeling like crap. She hadn’t seen or thought about Haru in weeks but here he was now at the same party with one of her classmate’s on his arm. She heard the front door open hoping it was Korra but out stepped Haru. She glanced at him, he opened his mouth to say something but she got up to walk away before he had the chance to say anything.

Haru followed, “Asami, wait.” He grabbed her wrist to stop her from walking further.

“What do you want?” Asami asked with a hint of anger and resentment.

“I want to talk to you. Please.” He let go of her when she finally stopped walking to listen to what he had to say. He breathed out. “I was an arsehole. I thought when I graduated…” Asami barely paid attention to his sob story and she just watched as his lips kept moving. “… but I spent these past months missing you. Can you give me another chance, please?”

“You should have thought about that before you dumped me so you could date college girls.” Asami responded quite brutally but he gently put his arms on her to protest with a pleading look in his eye.

“What’s going on here?” She heard a female voice behind Haru. It was Miyu, the girl in her class. The girl that Haru was with at the party and she had two of her other friends standing beside her. “Haru?”

“Nothing.” Haru said and he dropped his arms back to his sides. “We were just talking.”

“Does the skank want you back?” Miyu and her friends giggled.

Asami stepped forward to slap that smug look off Miyu’s face but she was stopped by someone’s muscular arms. “Asami, what are you doing?”

Korra, who had somehow snuck up behind her, held Asami back and the other three girls were about to step forward too but Haru stood between them. Asami tried to worm herself free from Korra’s grip. “I can take care of myself Korra.”

“I know… but I’ve seen you throw down. And I know you could break these girls like a cabbage vase.” Korra unintentionally killed any tension that was rising in that situation. She looked around, Haru, Miyu and her friends, and Asami were just staring at her. A silence filled the air. “What…?”

“Like a cabbage vase. Really?” Miyu asked in disbelief.

“I thought it was fitting.” Korra rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean look whose house we’re at.”

Mako, Bolin, Opal, and Ginger were outside too now and they stood next to Korra and Asami. Miyu and her friends backed down. They heard the sound of a vase breaking from inside the house and Gen shouting “My cabbage vase!!! Wait, did someone throw up in this?”

“Okay… that’s our cue to leave.” Korra ushered her friends toward the front gate. Asami gave Haru one last look before they left. Miyu scoffed at Asami but Korra made an “I’m watching you” gesture with her index and pinkie finger at her before strutting away.

+++

Asami found herself sitting on Korra’s lap after being squeezed in the backseat of Opal’s car along with Ginger and Mako. Bolin lightened up the mood a bit by dramatically reading from a story on his phone. “ _It was snowing and raining so there was no sun, which I was very happy about. A lot of preps stared at me. I put up my middle finger at them_.” The others begged him to stop after a while.

When Korra and Asami arrived at their home, they thanked Opal and walked quietly to the front door. The porch light was on. Asami had sobered up a bit by that point and felt guilty for snapping at Korra earlier. She grabbed Korra’s hand before Korra could unlock the front door. “Korra, I don’t think I’ve apologised.”

“For what?” Korra turned around and they were now face-to-face.

“For snapping at you earlier. I was about to slap that b-word but you were just trying to look out for me.”

“What? No you got it all wrong. I was looking out for that b-word since she’s such a pleasant person and everything.” Korra joked. “I’m kidding. I’ll always have your back, Asami, since you’re going to be my sister and all.” She gave Asami’s hand a gentle squeeze.

“Thanks.” Asami felt she was happy drunk again. They stood there for a moment gazing at each other. It would be easy to just lean forward and kiss Korra like she’d been wanting to do all night before Haru came and ruined things. And from Korra’s muttering earlier in the bathroom, Korra doesn’t not want to kiss her too.

There was nobody watching. 

She shouldn’t but she leaned forward anyway and gave Korra a quick kiss on the lips.

When she pulled back, Korra look dazed. “Were you aiming for my cheek again?”

“No I wasn’t…” Asami said quietly.

Asami couldn’t decipher the look on Korra’s face but she didn’t have to wonder too long what she was thinking. Korra put her arms around Asami’s waist and closed the gap between them to kiss her back, this time with her mouth slightly open. Asami’s heart skipped a beat as she pushed her tongue against Korra’s and wrapped her arms around shoulders.

“We shouldn’t do this.” Korra said when she broke the kiss for some air but she didn’t let Asami out of her arms.

“I know.” Asami’s words contradicted her when she pulled Korra back in for another lingering kiss.

It felt right but she suddenly felt wrong or queasy to be exact. She had to stop herself kissing Korra, much to her disappointment. She pushed a confused Korra to the side to puke up in one of the potted plants behind her. Korra held her hair up for her and rubbed her back as she continued to throw up. “Okay. I am not _that_ bad a kisser.”

“No. You’re a really good kisser.” Asami wiped her mouth and slouched against the wall. “Maybe I didn’t sober up as much as I thought… Don’t worry, I’m sober enough to remember this in the morning.”

Korra breathed a sigh of relief and sat beside Asami. Asami held Korra’s hand and added, “But you’re right, we shouldn’t do this.”

Korra caressed the back of Asami’s hand with her thumb. “So that means we probably shouldn’t be alone in a room together.”

“Agreed. And you should probably stop smiling that smile of yours at me whenever we see each other.”

“I can’t help that I feel happy whenever I see you. Fine. Well you should stop flipping your hair at me. Deal?” Korra wriggled her right hand free from Asami’s and held it up.

Asami hesitantly grasped Korra’s hand and shook it. “Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the next Growing Up Sato...
> 
> Korra and Asami are forced to share a room when the family stay at the Sato's beach house during the school holidays.


	5. Are We Out of the Woods?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami have to fight their growing attraction to each other when they share a room and a bed at the Sato family beach house during the school holidays.

“Exams were so stressful this week but I’m looking forward to the holidays. Worrying about nothing for the next week, relaxing at the beach all day, pretending to be a beached whale…” Korra said. She sat in the middle seat of the Range Rover between Naga and Asami. Hiroshi and Senna were refuelling and buying snacks for the drive to the Sato beach house.

Asami sluggishly leaned her head on the car window exhausted from the week of school. “Korra, let’s play a game.” Before Korra could eagerly ask her which one, Asami cut her off. “It’s called The Quiet Game.”

“Boo, you’re no fun.” Korra tapped her fingers on her leg and glanced over at Asami who looked like she was ready to fall asleep but she didn’t want Asami to fall asleep and being the vindictive person that she was, Korra began poking Asami in the stomach. First Asami let out a groan but when Korra started to tickle her, her groans turned into fits of giggles.

“Korra stop!” Asami laughed while Korra tickled her with both hands now. Asami tried to fight her off but was unsuccessful being backed against the car door with no room to move.

Asami was left with no choice, so she leaned up and gave Korra a kiss on the mouth.

It was super effective.

 

Korra spent the rest of the three-hour car ride dazed and staring out the front window. When they arrived at the Sato family beach house at night, Hiroshi and Senna unloaded their bags and went inside first along with Naga. 

When Korra and Asami got out of the car, Korra asked “Hey that kiss before, I thought we weren't going to do those things. We made a deal and everything.” No kissing, no gazing into each other's eyes, no lingering touches or cuddling.

“Hey you started it.” Asami was about to grab her bags but Korra beat her to it. “Such a gentlewoman.”

They smiled at each other for a moment until Asami shook her head, “That deal is still in full effect. That was just a minor relapse. We’ll be hanging out with the Beifongs and Tenzin’s family this week so there's no danger of us being alone which means there’s no danger of us breaking that deal... again.” Asami held the door as they walked into the house.

Korra spotted a familiar older woman with grey hair and brown skin. She set the bags down beside the door and shouted, “Kya! What are you doing here? Where are Tenzin and the kids?” Korra ran up and gave her a hug and Kya extended her arms out to Asami to join the hug too. 

“You two were asleep in the car, at least I thought Korra was asleep. She had her eyes open but she wouldn't respond to me the whole ride. Tenzin’s apartment will be full with the kids and Bumi, so we offered for Kya to stay with us. Lin will be joining us too and staying with Kya.”

"Chief Beifong?” Korra shuddered. 

“Your father sends his love.” Kya said.

“Hold on, if there are three bedrooms, and you and dad are sharing a room. And Kya and Lin are sharing a room… where is Korra going to sleep?” Asami said.

Senna gave Asami a sweet smile, “Oh, Asami. You and Korra will be sharing a room.”

“What?” Korra and Asami cried out in unison. “I can’t share a room with her.”

“Why not?” said Senna, “I thought you two were getting along now.”

“We are but… I snore really loudly.” Korra laughed nervously.

Asami joined the nervous laughter. “And my feet smell.”

The two girls laughed nervously together. Korra pinched her nose and waved her other hand in front of her face, “Pee-yew!” Senna and Kya traded side glances.

“Lucky I bought an extra pair of ear plugs.” Senna unzipped her purse, fumbled for a moment and then handed Asami a pair of ear plugs. “Your father is quite the snorer too. This should help make it easier to share a room with Korra.”

Asami muttered a thanks, and her father who was in the kitchen making tea for everyone called out, “And wash your feet Asami.”

+++

Exams were a good distraction for the both of them but when Korra followed Asami upstairs to the bedroom they would be sharing, she realised she was nervous about having to share a bed with Asami.

They set their bags down and Korra admired the room. The bedroom had a wide-screen TV on the wall and a black single sofa in the corner. From what Korra could see from the night sky, the walls that were made of glass overlooked the ocean and she was in awe of the view. The queen size bed in the middle of the room was perfect for snuggling… Wait, Korra could have sworn she heard the sound of a record scratch. She looked at the bed and then at Asami, who was looking back at her with the same worried expression.

Senna called out from downstairs that dinner was ready.

+++

Chief Beifong arrived and the family along with Kya enjoyed a late dinner at the outdoor dining table under the moon and stars. After dinner, they played Settlers of Catan, which Asami took ten minutes to explain the rules of to Senna and Korra.

“Well, that was fun.” Kya won both times before the adults decided to call it a night.

“Says you. I would have won if Asami didn’t keep stealing from me.” Korra groaned in frustration. 

Asami laughed at her but the realisation hit her that calling it a night meant she’d soon have to share a cosy bed with Korra. “How about another game?”

“Honey. It’s getting late and we’re meeting up with the others tomorrow.” Senna said. “We can play again tomorrow night.”

 

Asami and Korra dragged their feet upstairs.

Asami drew the curtains in the bedroom so she could change into her pyjamas. After she changed, she sat on the edge of the bed, fidgeting with her hands. When Korra returned from the bathroom, looking distressingly hot in her pyjama bottoms and a singlet, Asami stared but said, “Do you want the left or right side?”

“I can sleep on the floor if you want?” Korra rubbed the back of her neck and Asami thanked the heavens for Korra’s nervous habit, especially in that singlet, as it put her biceps on display.

Asami was almost lost for words. “No. I don’t want that. That would be uncomfortable for you.”

“Left then.” Asami nodded, stood up and made her way to the right side of the bed where she lifted up the covers and laid down on her side. She turned off her night lamp.

They said their goodnights and she heard Korra rummage in her bag before she felt her crawl on to the bed and under the covers. Korra turned off her night light. Asami closed her eyes very aware of the small distance between them and needing all of her self-control to not turn around and kiss Korra.

Korra moved around a bit until she found a comfortable position. Then Asami felt something soft but pointy poking her backside. The poking persisted whenever Korra would adjust slightly. “Um, Korra is there something you’re not telling me?”

Korra jerked back whatever it was. “Sorry. It’s my Purple Unicorn toy. I can’t sleep without cuddling something.”

“Oh right.” Asami felt Korra move around again and they were now back-to-back from what she could tell. “Good night Korra.”

 

In the morning, when Asami woke up and opened her eyes, she was hugging a purple horse with a horn and an indigo mane. She wondered how she wound up holding Korra’s unicorn but something more pressing caught her attention. The arm wrapped around her waist and the chest pressed against her back. Flustered didn’t even begin to describe how Asami was feeling from being embraced from behind by Korra.

+++

At the sound of her mother calling from the door to come to breakfast, Korra awoke to an empty bed. Not at all surprised since Asami tended to wake up early in the mornings. She stretched out and then headed downstairs where she smelt waffles and maple syrup. Everyone else was awake and at the table already. Korra gave Chief Beifong a salute and sat next to Asami at the table. Asami mumbled a morning to her but mostly averted her gaze.

“How did you sleep dear?” Senna asked.

“Great. The bed was so comfy.” Korra smiled. “The waffles look amazing.”

“Agreed. Thanks Senna.” Asami said.

 

They headed to the beach once they finished breakfast and got ready where they met up with the Beifongs and Tenzin’s family. Korra introduced herself to Opal’s siblings, Huan, the twins Wing and Wei. Her oldest brother, Baatar Jr was away travelling with his fiancé.

Meanwhile, Asami was getting acquainted with Tenzin’s wife and kids specifically Meelo who drooled upon meeting her and declared that she was the prettiest girl he’d ever met. Korra weaned Meelo away from Asami but she had to agree that the kid had a point.

“Damn, that water is so crystal clear. I can't wait to jump in.” Korra stripped out of her t-shirt and short shorts to reveal the navy blue one-piece swimmers underneath. “I’ll race you to the water.”

“Alright.” Asami stripped out of her shorts. When she took off her blouse and was about to race to the water, Korra just stood there looking like Meelo did a few minutes ago. “Are we racing?”

Korra’s organ that pumps her blood was definitely racing seeing Asami wearing a red bikini. Korra lowered her voice, “I thought we were trying not to be attracted to each other. You’re killing me Sato.”

“I didn't have time to buy a new swimsuit.” Asami blushed. “And you were killing me too when you were spooning me this morning.”

“I was what?” Korra said in shock.

“What are you two whispering about?” They were interrupted by Opal who was keen to get in the water.

“Nothing!” Korra and Asami cried out in unison.

Opal put her hands up defensively, “Okay, okay. Come on, let's go swimming.”

They frolicked at the beach and Asami got to see firsthand what Korra pretending to be a beach whale was like. It involved Korra lying on her stomach by the shoreline making whale noises while Ikki and Meelo happily poured buckets of water on to her. Asami laughed uncontrollably at the sight.

After she was done being beached, Korra got up and walked over to where Asami was sitting with Jinora. Asami was wearing Korra’s t-shirt which Korra found distressingly hot.

“Sorry it was cold in the shade.” Asami said. “Do you want your shirt back?”

“No. It’s okay. It looks good on you.” Korra said rather shyly sitting between Asami and Jinora. “I don’t know whether you look hotter in that bikini or my t-shirt… …oh geez, I think I should just stop talking...”

Asami’s cheeks flushed and Jinora pried her eyes away from her phone to look at the two with a raised eyebrow. 

“Who have you been messaging all day, Jinora?” Korra asked.

“No one…” Jinora moved her phone away so Korra couldn’t see the screen.

Ikki ran past them and yelled excitedly, “Jinora’s got a boyfriend!”

“Be quiet Ikki!”

“What?” Korra was excited now too. “You have a boyfriend? Who is he?”

“Shhh, keep your voice down. He’s not my boyfriend. Dad lets me hang out with Kai but I know my dad doesn’t like him.”

“Kai? Why doesn’t Tenzin like this Kai person?”

Jinora frowned and put her phone aside. “He thinks that Kai is a bad influence. He gets good grades at school. Dad doesn’t like the people he hangs around with outside of school but I’ve met them and they’re not bad people. I mean, do you have anybody you like?” Jinora asked Korra and Asami.

Korra and Asami looked at each other and quickly looked away and they both mumbled in unison while Jinora raised her eyebrow at them again, “No I can’t think of anyone. Not particularly.”

“Does Natalie Portman count?” Korra said. “Look, I think your dad won’t like anyone you date. He is overprotective but if you and Kai have a connection, then you should go for it.”

“Thanks Korra.” Jinora said and the girls enjoyed the rest of the chilled out afternoon.

+++

“Kya makes the best food. I’m stuffed.” Korra stretched out onto the bed as she watched Asami make her way to the bed. Korra blushed remembering that Asami said she was spooning her that morning.

“I know, I’m about to go into a food coma.” Korra moved to her side of the bed almost at the edge as Asami climbed onto the bed.

“And I will join you.” Korra said. She placed a spare pillow between them just in case she sleep-spooned Asami again.

They said their goodnights and Korra drifted off to sleep as soon as she closed her eyes. Her dreams were more whimsical than usual. She was a wizard riding on her purple unicorn in the woods and fighting an evil enchantress. The setting of the battle to determine the fate of the kingdom was a colourful dissonance. Wizard Korra was attacked by smiling clouds and pink teddy bears as the evil enchantress shot spell after spell at her destroying the trees around her. But with the help of her companions and her trusted steed, Wizard Korra defeated the evil enchantress. Korra cheered and hugged her unicorn in celebration… her unicorn smelled of musky perfume and its nice firm breasts felt so realistic in her hands… wait, breasts?

Korra’s eyes shot open. It was morning by now as reality sunk in. The pillow she placed in the middle of the bed was all but gone and the hair in her face didn’t belong to her trusted steed. Korra screamed silently as she realised who the nice firm breast she had cupped in her hand belonged to. “Oh my god! Asami’s going to think I’m the biggest pervert…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi on tumblr: http://littlebigg.tumblr.com.


	6. Are We Out of the Woods Yet?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are they in the clear yet?

Korra had avoided being alone with Asami since she mumbled an apology and scrambled out of bed that morning. And just to be careful that she didn’t wake up with either of her hands full again, she’d slept on the couch downstairs for the next few days prompting Kya to ask her about it.

“There’s seriously more space on this nice leather couch than that queen size bed. Asami hogs all of it.” Korra yawned and rubbed sleep from her eye. Kya was right not to be convinced that Asami hogged the bed. The couch was nowhere near as comfortable as sharing a bed with Asami but Korra had to sacrifice that if she wanted to be less sprung over Asami than she already was.

 

The families spent the day at the marine animal park. Korra and Jinora were at the stingray petting pool where Jinora watched Korra looking in the water with glazed eyes. “Are you okay, Korra? You’re not as fun as usual.”

“Indigestion.” Korra answered. “I ate raw cookie dough last night…” Jinora raised her eyebrow and Korra noticed that Jinora had been doing that a lot lately. “You know if you raise your eyebrow enough times, it will stay like that forever.”

Jinora laughed sarcastically but countered Korra’s remark. “You know if you keep blushing from staring at your crush, you’ll turn into a tomato.”

Korra looked around to make sure none of their family members were around. Asami was on the other side of the pool with Opal and out of earshot, but Korra still whispered to Jinora. “I don’t have a crush on anyone and I certainly don’t stare at them.”

Jinora raised her eyebrow again as Korra not so secretly snuck a glance over at Asami who was touching one of the stingrays that swam by. She was wearing the paper airplane necklace Korra made her which made Korra all happy inside. “How would you even know if I did?” Korra asked Jinora.

“Your Purple Unicorn told me.”

“I’m going to have words with that unicorn.” Korra said in a serious manner.

“Korra, please. It didn’t have to tell me anything. You called her hot to her face. You talk about her non-stop. I’m pretty sure you were showing off in front of her when you two beat Wing and Wei in beach volleyball yesterday.”

“Okay. I get it.” Korra was slightly embarrassed. She didn’t realise she had been that obvious. She gave Jinora a smile. “You are like a wise old 12-year-old owl. What advice would you give me, wise old owl?”

“The same advice you gave me. If you two have a connection, you should just go for it.”

“Believe me, I want to but she’s going to be my step-sister soon. I don’t think our parents would be okay with it.”

“But you’re not blood related and no one needs to know.” Jinora grabbed Korra by the wrist when she saw Asami glancing over at them. Jinora moved Korra over to the rock pools to look at the starfish. “She’s super nice and super pretty. I don’t blame you… and if you want to know… she stares at you enough, she talks about you non-stop, and I’m pretty sure she was showing off in front of you when you two beat Wing and Wei in beach volleyball yesterday.”

Korra laughed. “Thanks Jinora.”

+++

Asami silently understood why Korra was putting distance between the two of them, but for Asami the distance made it worse somehow. 

After the day at the marine park yesterday, it was their second last day at the beach house and there was nothing on the agenda so Korra was downstairs playing video games while Asami sat in bed listening to her jams and reading a book. Or rather gazing at the words on the page, thinking more about Korra and her wandering hands than actually reading.

She heard someone knock on the door and she looked up from her book to see Korra standing at the doorway. “Hey… me, Kya and Lin are going for a walk in the woods if you wanted to come.”

“Sure. Let me just get changed.” It was past noon and Asami was still in her pyjamas. Her father did chastise her for that but she argued that they were staying in for the day so she was allowed.

Asami changed into her leggings and a shirt, put on her sneakers and went downstairs where Korra was waiting outside with Naga, Kya and Lin. Or ‘Kyalin’ as Asami liked to call them, not to their faces however, since they spent nearly all of their time together.

They started the walk to the woods near the beach house. Kya and Lin walked briskly in front with Naga while Korra and Asami trailed behind them not saying a word to each other.

“You two are awfully talkative there.” Lin said over her shoulder.

“Kids these days.” Kya turned around to smile at them. “They spend so much time on their electronics, they forget how to talk to each other.”

“I talk plenty.” Korra scoffed. She exchanged glances with Asami. “Those stingrays yesterday were so rubbery hey.”

Asami giggled. “Yes they were. And those dolphins were so dolphiny.” Korra laughed and smiled that smile of hers that Asami found utterly cute.

For the next hour, they spoke non-stop like two close friends who hadn’t seen each other for months. They were so distracted by each other that they didn’t realise how far ahead Kya, Lin and Naga had gotten. They came to a fork in the road but they couldn’t tell from the trail which way the other three had gone. “Did you pay attention to which direction they went?”

“No I didn’t…” Asami said. “Let’s take the left road.” Asami walked ahead and looked around finally taking note of the trees in the woods with their orange leaves. They continued their walk and Asami spotted a tree that had fallen over, the base of it was rather large. She walked up to it to get a better look. “Do you think it made a sound when it fell over?”

“Only if there was someone around to hear it.” Korra said and she noticeably looked around the woods before standing in front of Asami and placing her hands on Asami’s waist. “…Is it alright if I kiss you in the forest if no one is around to see it?”

Asami could feel herself blushing. Korra wasn’t usually this intentionally straightforward when flirting but the tease in Asami couldn’t help herself, “We’re in the woods and not the forest.”

Korra threw her hands up and looked dumbfounded. “What’s the difference? They both have these tall plants with trunks… or _trees_ as most people call them.”

“Well, firstly woods have less of these tall plants than forests.” Asami smirked at the look of mild annoyance on Korra’s face.

“Are we really talking about the woods right now?”

“Maybe the woods are a metaphor for the way we feel about each other.”

“What does that even mean?” said Korra.

“Are we out of the woods yet?”

“I think physically… we are still in them.”

“Are we out of the woods yet?”

“It makes even less sense when you repeat it like that.”

"Are we in the clear yet?”

“We're as clear as your tree metaphors…”

“Are we out of the woods?”

Korra accentuated each word. “What. Do. You. Mean? Asa –” Asami grabbed the back of Korra’s neck and pulled her in for a kiss. And they kissed slowly but with so much want. Asami felt strong arms wrap around her waist pulling her closer.

“We’re really bad at not breaking this deal, huh?” Asami said when she broke the kiss for air looking at Korra with half shut eyes. She was about to lean into Korra’s lips again but the sound of a dog barking startled her and she stepped away from the girl in front of her as fast as she could.

Naga came running and jumped onto Korra knocking her on the ground onto her back. “Geez, it’s like you haven’t seen me for ages.”

“There you are.” Kya and Lin came into view. “You were dawdling so we came back when you weren’t behind us. What were you two doing?”

“Nothing.” Asami and Korra cried in unison. The looks on Kya and Lin’s faces said they weren’t convinced but they didn’t press the issue.

Korra was still on the ground but when the other three were watching, she did the most gratuitous flip up off her back landing on her feet in a standing position, then casually brushed the leaves off her sweatpants.

“Show off.” Said the other three ladies in unison.

+++

“I’m going to miss Kya’s cooking.” Korra mumbled to herself. 

She was alone in the bedroom she shared with Asami. Taking off her t-shirt to change into her pyjama singlet. She’d barely pulled the singlet over her head when Asami opened the door and was about to say something but she stood there speechless. Korra quickly pulled the singlet down to cover her breasts and her abs.

“I’m sorry, I should really learn to knock.” Asami said though from the small smile on her face, Korra could tell she really wasn’t sorry. “Are you sleeping in here tonight?”

“Yeah if you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t.” Asami closed the door behind her. “I’ve been thinking actually…”

“I’ve been thinking too actually.” Korra said, standing still near the bed feeling a bit awkward. Asami stepped closer to her. “You go first.”

“I’ve been thinking about how much we suck at keeping deals and I thought of a solution.” Asami bit her lip. She hesitated for a bit but then continued, “… and I think we should date.” Korra’s eyes widened, almost comically stretching out of their sockets. Korra didn’t give an answer and Asami blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry... um… what were you going to say?”

“I… was just going to ask if I could sleep on the right side of the bed instead of the left…”

“Oh right… yeah, good idea. Um, forget I said anything Korra.” Asami turned around to walk out of the room but Korra came out of her haze. She walked up and clutched Asami’s hand before she could turn the door knob.

“No wait. I’m sorry… that’s the last thing I expected you to say is all.” Korra didn’t let go of Asami’s hand and they stared at each other like they’d been doing the whole week except this time without the distance between them.

“I like you.” Asami broke the silence. “A lot, and not being able to be with you drives me crazy more than it should.”

“Well if you’re having a hard time… there’s no hope for the rest of us.” Korra said softly. “Do you think dating will help our situation?”

“It’s reverse psychology. Maybe we won’t want each other that much once we start dating.”

“Then dating is the probably the worst and best idea ever.” Korra chuckled. She didn’t really need to think long and hard for an answer. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

Korra nodded, and a huge grin broke out on Asami’s face. She was about to lean in for a kiss but Korra stopped her. “Wait, we have to make this official.” She grasped both of Asami’s hands now and stared into her eyes. “Asami, will you make me your bitch for an indefinite period of time?”

Asami let go of one of Korra’s hands to dramatically clutch her necklace. “That is the most romantic thing anyone has ever asked me.” 

She leaned forward and captured Korra’s lips in a short kiss. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” Asami said. Korra kissed her again. “We probably shouldn’t tell anyone.”

Korra looked a bit guilty. “Jinora might have a suspicion…”

“She’s a cluey one.”

“The unicorn told her.”

“I’m going to have words with that unicorn.” Asami said in a serious manner. “But later.” She said as she pulled Korra in again and kissed her hard.

+++

They didn’t let it go further than kissing when they fell asleep next to each other that night, even sleeping with their backs to each other. But both girls blushed like tomatoes when they woke up the next morning with Korra embracing Asami from behind.

 

As they were getting ready to leave and head home, Asami watched her _girlfriend_ , she liked the sound of that, hug Kya tightly. “Tell my dad I love him.”

“I will dear.”

Kya hugged Asami also and Lin nodded in Korra and Asami’s general direction. On the drive back home, Korra sat in the middle again. The two smiled at each other and Korra took off her jacket and put it over her and Asami’s laps. Hiroshi noticed in the corner of his eye and turned around to look at them briefly before focusing on the road. “Is the air con too cold?”

“No. It’s fine.” Korra said as she interlocked her hand with Asami’s underneath the jacket.


	7. Korra Goes on a Date!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Asami.

“Mornings are the best,” Korra murmured into Asami’s ear.

“Come on, get up. I was supposed to wake you up five minutes ago,” Asami pecked Korra on the lips. “Your mother is probably wondering where we are.”

Earlier, Korra had woken up from Asami jumping up and down on her bed like a child. Korra giggled and pulled Asami down beside her. Asami then used her tongue to greet Korra a good morning for at least five minutes. Asami ended up laying on top of a very flushed Korra. She buried her face in Korra’s neck while Korra had her hand on the small of Asami’s back. Both girls content to stay like that all morning, but the sound of Senna’s voice coming from the hallway put the two girls into a panic.

“Oh my god, hide.”

“Where?” Asami hopped off of Korra and out of the bed. Thinking to hide under Korra’s bed but there wasn’t enough space between the frame and the floor. 

Korra pulled Asami back to the bed and hid her underneath the covers just in time as Senna knocked and opened the door to Korra’s bedroom poking her head in. “Honey, are you awake? Breakfast is ready. Have you seen Asami?”

Korra pretended to stretch out. “Hi mum. I heard her bleating for me to wake up, but I think she went into the bathroom. I’ll be downstairs in a minute.”

“Okay,” Senna said before leaving the room.

Korra breathed a sigh of relief but started laughing when Asami popped her head out of the covers, her hair a little ruffled. Asami said in a husky voice, “I wasn’t expecting boobs in my face until like our third date.”

The look on Korra’s face screamed out a ‘What?’

“Sorry. Too soon?”

“Ah… we haven’t even gone on our first date yet,” Korra said nervously. They still had not gone any further than their private stolen kisses after school but Korra wasn’t exactly in a rush to go any further than that. Not yet anyway but a date sounded fun. “We should. We’ve been together for like two weeks now.”

“Three weeks,” Asami corrected her. “Can we talk about this after breakfast?”

“Sure,” Korra nodded. Asami fixed up her hair and the two girls crawled out of bed and headed downstairs.

+++

“Thanks for the pancakes Senna. They were amazing as always,” Asami said.

“How do you get them so fluffy?” Korra rubbed her own stomach. Feeling full from having devoured a rather large stack of pancakes.

“Magic,” Senna smiled. “It’s nice to eat together as a family.”

“It is,” Hiroshi said. “We won’t get to do this when Asami graduates and goes to college next year.”

Korra turned to Asami and pouted with puppy-dog eyes. Asami giggled, “I haven’t picked a college yet dad.”

“Which one do you intend to go to?” Korra asked fidgeting with the fork on her plate.

At the start of the year, Asami had her sights on attending The University of Ba Sing Se for its engineering and business degrees, however she hadn’t given it much thought lately. “I was thinking Ba Sing Se or the university in Zaofu,” Either way, both of those were a fair distance away from Republic City.

“I’m sure you would get accepted into any. What about you Korra? What do you want to study?” Hiroshi asked.

“I always wanted to be a Power Ranger or a Tomb Raider but I don’t think any universities offer courses for that. So I was thinking …of studying business instead.”

“That’s great dear,” Senna laughed but was happy for Korra. Her daughter got good grades at school but she was undecided, except for the two professions she mentioned earlier, whenever Senna asked what she wanted to be when she was older. “We’ve lived here five months and you’re already growing up a Sato.”

“Asami you might have some competition for Future Industries CEO,” said Hiroshi.

Asami laughed and Korra glared at her which Asami would take seriously if not for the milk moustache on Korra’s upper lip, “No way, Korra can be the chief operating officer instead.” After all, Asami enjoyed having Korra under her.

 

Senna was surprised but didn’t complain when Asami and Korra offered to clean up after breakfast. Asami washed the dishes while Korra rinsed them. After washing the last dish, Asami looked outside to make sure their parents were still outside by the pool. It was all clear so she stood behind Korra who was now drying the dishes. She wrapped her arms around Korra’s stomach and whispered in Korra’s ear, “Can we talk about our first date now?”

Korra shuddered, “You’re going to make me drop these dishes.”

“Sorry,” Asami stepped back from Korra but Korra smiled over her shoulder at her.

“We can’t today since you’re going to that fundraiser and Bolin is coming over later to work on our English assignment. How about next week so it’s not so spontaneous?” Korra put the last of the dishes away and stood with her back against the counter.

“Sounds perfect. And since you suggested we should go on a date, you can pick the time and the place.”

“Is that how that works?” Korra raised an eyebrow as Asami stood closer to her.

“Mmm-hmm.”

The sound of a gasp and something dropping to the floor startled both of the girls.

“Oh sweet lord, I knew it!” Bolin stood in the kitchen with his study books and pencil case on the floor. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming about Korra being pressed up against the kitchen counter by Asami.

+++

Bolin was forcibly dragged into Korra’s room. He sat on the edge of her bed while Korra and Asami hovered over him looking intimidating with their arms crossed and their serious expressions. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming over until later.”

“I messaged you but you weren’t replying. Mako had to go into work so he dropped me off early. I thought you wouldn’t mind,” There was an uncomfortable silence but Bolin crossed his legs and leaned his cheek on his hand, giving the two the widest grin ever. “So are you two dating… or is this like a step-sisters with benefits thing?”

Asami groaned turning to Korra to silently ask for permission. Korra gave her a slight nod. “Yes, we are dating. I don’t mind you knowing but can you keep this to yourself,” Asami said.

“Hmm. Yeah I can,” Bolin said still grinning. “But if you don’t want people to know, you probably shouldn’t almost kiss in open areas.”

Asami grabbed one of Korra’s pillows and hit Bolin with it. “Ow. What was that for?”

“That’s for having a point.”

Korra just stood there watching the two of them wondering whether she should help her friend but she decided against it. Bolin could handle pillow attacks from Asami.

“I’m not going to tell a soul,” Bolin stood up rubbing his arms. He pulled both Asami and Korra into a tight bear hug. “I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Bolin, too tight,” Korra whimpered.

“Oh sorry,” He released both of them.

“I have to get ready for this fundraiser,” Asami made her way to the door trying to catch her breath.

Bolin called out, “You’re not going to give Korra a goodbye kiss?”

He was silenced by the glare Asami shot him. “Bye Bolin.”

When Asami closed the door behind her, Bolin squealed in delight. “I knew you liked her back. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“Shouldn’t you be more surprised that this came out of nowhere?”

“Are you kidding me? I saw the sparks flying the day we went to the movies with Opal,” Korra moved to her study desk and Bolin followed sitting himself on the spare chair. “And maybe I saw it even before that when she used to date Mako and you were all jealous of it. Imagine the look on Mako’s face when he finds out his ex-girlfriends are dating each other,” Bolin’s cheesy grin returned again and he giggled like a school girl.

 

In the late afternoon, Korra and Bolin lounged on the lounge watching cartoons. They had somehow finished their English assignment which was a feat in itself given Bolin’s short attention span. It was just the two of them in the house. Hiroshi and Asami were at the fundraiser and Senna had been called into work.

“So?” Bolin drew out the word like it had fifty syllables. “You and Asami. What’s that like?”

“… It’s nice, you know. She knows how to drive me crazy. She knows when to give me space. We started dating so that maybe we wouldn’t like each other that much after a while but it’s not working so far. Are relationships meant to be easy? We don’t even argue.”

“Maybe you got all the arguing out when you first moved in here,” Bolin said.

“It just sucks because we can’t be public about it,” Korra lamented. “We’re going on our first date next week and it’s hard enough not wanting to kiss her every time I see her.”

Bolin was about to respond but the sound of the front door opening and chatter stopped him. Hiroshi greeted the two as he walked past the lounge before heading off to his bedroom.

Korra grinned at the sight of Asami entering the lounge. She sat beside Bolin on the couch, “How was the fundraiser?”

“It was great. What have you been doing?”

“Korra was just telling me about the big date she’s taking you on next weekend,” Bolin said in a lower voice than usual. “She said it’s going to be the best date of your life.”

“Is that right?” Asami flashed Korra a smile and Korra nervously smiled back at her.

“Ah yeah. Big… date.”

 

“Curse you Bolin,” Korra was on her computer frantically searching on the internet. “I was going to take her to Narook’s Noodlery but that’s probably not her idea of the best date. Let’s see… date ideas in Republic City... the Food Markets… that sounds tasty. A nature walk in the woods? No, we’re already out of the woods. Whatever that means. Tickets to watch the Fire Ferrets play? I might need to borrow money off mother. Ferris Wheel ride that ultimately leads to kisses? Clichéd… but I would like to try that.”

She spent the rest of the night trying to come up with ideas for the best date ever but she ended up groaning and banging her head, lightly, against her desk. On the bright side, her date idea probably couldn’t be any worse than the ones Mako took Asami on.

+++

The day of the big date came. Korra picked Asami up from her bedroom. They both pretended it was the front door. Korra stuck out her arm and Asami took it but they parted once they reached the stairs. They told their parents they were spending the day in the city with Asami driving them.

“Maybe for our first date, I should teach you how to drive properly so you can get your license,” Asami said.

“Our date would end with us crashing into a tree. In the first two minutes,” Korra joked. Asami blushed as Korra laced their fingers together. She’d learnt in the last four weeks that Korra was one to wait for Asami to be the one to take the lead when they’d kiss or hold hands. So it was nice on the rare occasion whenever Korra initiated it.

They found a car spot near the park and Korra led them to a dessert place literally called The Dessert Place. It was frequented by a few other couples and Asami almost envied them with their public displays of affection. But Korra pulled Asami’s chair out for her and helped her in. Asami teased, “You’re such a gentlewoman.”

“Anything for the Lady Asami,” Korra teased back. Korra grabbed a menu and studied it. “What do you feel like?”

Asami hummed studying her menu. Under the table, she moved her left foot so that it purposefully rubbed slowly against Korra’s leg. And she said in the most flirtatious voice she could muster, “Strawberry flavoured ice cream used to be my favourite but now I’ve really taken a liking to chocolate.”

It had the desired effect from Korra’s reaction. She blushed then coughed, then choked on nothing and then she drank down the glass of water the waiter gave. “Well in that case, do you want to share a chocolate soufflé with me? And then afterwards, we can go eat hotdogs at the Food Markets.”

“Dessert and _then_ lunch? How unruly of you.”

“Well it’s one of many things I have planned for our big date,” Korra said almost apprehensively chugging down another glass of water.

 

They shared the dessert once it came out. Korra let Asami have the larger piece they cut in half and they ate it rather quickly. 

“That was so nice!” Asami wiped her mouth with a napkin as she watched Korra lick the chocolate off her lips wishing she could be the one to do that. “To the market?”

“Yes! Let’s go,” Korra stood and Asami followed. She paid for their dessert and the two headed out to the Food Markets to buy hotdogs. Korra led them to the park where she took a picnic blanket out of the backpack she was carrying and placed it on the grass with the viewpoint of the river.

“Korra. This is sweet,” Asami sat down on the blanket. Korra sat cosily beside her.

“ _You’re_ sweet,” Korra said biting into her hotdog.

They ate and sat together on the blanket in a comfortable silence staring out into the river and the city skyline. Asami wanted to but the people passing by made her stop from holding Korra’s hand. She had to settle for sitting really close to her girlfriend. “So, what else do you have planned today?”

“Are you getting bored?”

“What? Of course not.”

Korra was looking at Asami now. She gently caressed the side of Asami’s arm with her hand. “I was planning on winning you a sky bison toy at the arcade. And then we could go take photos at the photo booth, for posterity you know. And then ride the Ferris Wheel.”

“But… you have a but face?”

Korra looked offended but she eventually got Asami’s meaning. “But… I wasn’t sure whether that would constitute ‘the best date ever’ for you. And I’m having a nice time just sitting here being with you.”

“You’re sweet Korra,” Asami didn’t hesitate in giving Korra a quick kiss on the cheek. Korra smiled at her. “Honestly, we could have stayed at home watching Spongebob Squarepants while eating cheese sticks and I’d still think it was the best date ever.”

“If I knew that was an option,” Korra laughed.

“I like being around you too,” Asami said seriously now. She couldn’t kiss her properly in public so Asami did the next best thing and grazed Korra’s nose with the tip of her nose. “So how about winning me that sky bison?”

Korra flashed her a crooked smile.

 

As the sunset hit the city skyline, Korra and Asami snuggled up in a fully-enclosed booth of the city’s Ferris Wheel. The sky bison toy that Korra won lay at their feet and the photos they took at the photo booth was in the front pocket of Korra’s backpack.

“So be honest. Was this the best date you’ve ever been on?” Korra asked.

Asami looked contemplative, “I’d say it’s in the top three best dates I’ve ever been on.”

Korra raised an eyebrow at her, “Tell me I at least beat Mako, right?”

Asami didn’t answer instead grabbing the side of Korra’s face and pulling her in for a kiss. “Does that answer your question, bright eyes?”

“No it doesn’t, sexy eyes,” Korra said. “Could you repeat that?”

And Asami did, for at least five minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the next Growing Up Sato...
> 
> Angst?


	8. If U Seek Asami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami learns something about Korra that makes her insecure about their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Life got really busy (which included spending a weekend binge watching Orange is the New Black S4). Hope you enjoy!

Asami found herself on top of Korra the minute their parents left the house. She didn’t mean to be so needy for Korra’s kisses but she didn’t want to waste any moment they spent alone together on other things that didn’t involve sweet lady kisses.

While she kissed Korra, her hands trailed up and down Korra’s side. Korra’s were wrapped around Asami’s neck. Asami found the bottom hem of Korra’s t-shirt and she lifted it so that she could run her hand on Korra’s skin underneath. Korra didn’t protest, instead making a small moaning noise which made Asami more adventurous. She ran her hand up even further along Korra’s abs until she stopped at Korra’s firm breasts. She cupped one in her hand for the first time since they started dating and gave it a gentle squeeze. Korra let out another moan which made Asami moan too.

As things started to get heated, Korra suddenly broke away from their kiss. “You should probably go get ready. You don’t want to keep your friends waiting.”

Korra moved Asami’s hand off her breast and wormed herself out from underneath and sat up on the couch. Asami felt a bit disappointed but she sat up and straightened her clothes. “You’re right,” she said and gave Korra a kiss on the cheek. Korra gave her a small smile in return. Asami thought that was strange but she hurried upstairs to get ready for lunch with her friends.

+++

Asami sat at the booth at the burger joint with Ginger and Opal. They met up to plan their celebratory trip to the beach at the end of the year after they graduate. However, they were currently discussing other matters. Ginger told her friends the news that her and Mako had started dating.

“What? When did that happen?” Opal and Asami both said in shock.

“After we kissed at Gen’s party, we started texting each other more and we hung out a lot during the holidays. We went to the movies together and then we kissed. You’re not mad at me, are you Asami?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because he’s an ex-boyfriend of yours,” Ginger said in a shy manner, a far cry from the usual confidence she exuded.

“Of course I’m not. You can date whoever you want.” Asami laughed.

“Well in that case…” Opal trailed off and looked at Ginger. “Have you guys done it yet?”

“Oh my god Opal,” Ginger said and the other two girls laughed at Opal’s straightforwardness until the three of them giggled. “No we haven’t but we have talked about it and he told me he isn’t a virgin.”

Mako isn’t a virgin. The thought ran through Asami’s head like a maths equation. The only girls Mako has been with that she knows of were herself and… Korra. Asami was still a virgin. She wasn’t ready for it at the time so she never had sex with Haru. Part of her thinks that’s why he broke up with her. But Mako and Korra… Asami had to ask. “Did he say he has been with other girls since Korra?”

“He didn’t say who it was with. I assumed it wasn’t you.” Ginger ate a chip while she spoke. “I thought it could be Korra.”

Asami’s heart sank. If Korra has had sex before, then why does it seem like she doesn’t want to have sex with her? She didn’t have time to think about it as Opal asked Asami if she was alright.

“I’m fine,” Asami said with a smile.

+++

When she had a moment to herself on the drive back home from lunch, Asami thought about it again. Why did Korra stop this morning when they got more physical? She started to question whether what she had with Korra was serious. Of course she knew going into the relationship with Korra that at one point it would end, but she’d been nothing but happy the last two months being together with her. 

Asami was an affectionate person so the hardest part of dating Korra so far had been keeping their relationship a secret. The times they could show affection were behind closed doors or hand holding under a blanket while they watched TV. Asami didn’t want it to end. She felt ready with Korra and she wanted to show Korra how she felt. 

Once she parked her car in the driveway, and greeted her parents who had returned from their lunch date, she put her handbag on the dining room table and headed upstairs to Korra’s bedroom.

Korra left her bedroom door open and was seated at her computer desk with her school books in front of her, but she laughed at something on her computer screen. She had clearly pretended to be doing homework. Asami coughed to get her attention which startled Korra.

“Hey, how was lunch?” She asked as she obviously closed the browser window.

Asami didn’t answer. She closed the bedroom door and locked it. Korra looked puzzled. Asami walked over to Korra’s desk, pulled her up from the chair and kissed her.

“Hi to you too,” Korra said between kisses. 

Asami kept silent and led Korra to the bed. She pushed Korra backwards on to the bed. Korra looked surprised but she went along with it and crept backwards until her head lay on her pillow. Asami crawled on top of her to resume where they were that morning.

After she gave Korra a few hard kisses, she sat up and looked down at Korra. The look in Korra’s eyes made it seem like she wanted to keep going. Further this time. So Asami slowly took off her own shirt and threw it to the side. She now straddled Korra wearing nothing but her black bra and jeans. Korra’s eyes widened and she laid there in silence as she looked Asami’s body up and down.

Asami waited for Korra to freak out again and make an excuse to leave but she didn’t. To Asami’s surprise, Korra brought her hands up from her sides. First she ran them along Asami’s thighs until they came to a stop at Asami’s hips. Her hands were soft and kind of cold. Asami was about to giggle from the touch but Korra sat up to kiss her again and she moaned into Korra’s mouth instead.

Even more to Asami’s surprise, Korra wrapped her arms around Asami and changed their positions around. Asami now lay flat on her back while Korra was on top of her. They had stopped kissing and Korra seemed entranced. She stared at Asami’s cleavage and licked her lips as she stroked Asami’s side with her fingers while Asami’s hands had somehow managed to get underneath Korra’s shirt to stroke her back.

Asami began to kiss Korra’s neck and Korra finally let go, grabbed Asami’s breast and squeezed it. It was almost rough but Korra may have been worked up from Asami who now sucked on Korra’s neck.

Asami had only intended to see how far Korra would go with her but in that moment with Korra’s body on her, she wouldn’t have stopped. Korra, however, did. She sat up again. She grabbed Asami’s shirt from the floor, mumbled an apology and got up to leave Asami half-naked in her bed.

 

Korra took Naga for a walk, Senna told Asami. Asami wanted to cry when she realised she upset Korra but not in front of their parents.

“I’m just going for a drive,” Asami said to Senna.

She grabbed her handbag from the table, got in her car and drove off. She wanted to clear her head on her own but during the drive, she had somehow ended up at Opal’s place. Asami was in tears at that point and luckily Opal answered the front door and took her to the backyard so they could chat by the pool.

Opal put a comforting hand on Asami’s back, “Are you upset about Ginger and Mako dating?”

“No, it’s not that.” Asami blew her nose on a tissue. “That was a long time ago. I’ve been over him for a while. Haru helped me with that.”

“Who helped you get over Haru?” Opal asked quietly.

Asami hesitated but she could trust Opal so she said Korra’s name out loud.

“Korra?” Opal was surprised yet somehow not surprised. Asami nodded to assure her that she heard correctly. Opal didn’t respond right away. “I thought it would last a bit too long whenever you stared at each other.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“A little bit… how long have you been together?”

“About two months.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Opal frowned.

“I didn’t know how you would react,” Asami said.

“Because she’s your step-sister? It is kind of weird at first but I’ve seen you two together. I think you look good, to be honest. Who else knows about it?”

“Bolin and Jinora maybe.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Bolin kind of walked in on us being close and Jinora just knows,” Asami said as she splashed in the pool with her legs.

“I see. Two months, huh?” Opal scratched at her chin. “Well in that case… have you guys done it?”

“What is with you and asking people about their sex lives?” Asami laughed.

“I have a natural curiosity,” Opal said.

“No we haven’t. Things got kind of hot earlier but she left.” Asami looked upset again. “It seemed like she wanted to but I may have messed it up by pressuring her. I’m starting to think maybe Korra might not feel the same way about me the way I feel about her.”

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on but Korra’s an idiot if she doesn’t feel the same about you. She probably got overwhelmed.”

“You think so? That’s probably why she freaks out when we get close. You’d have sex with me, right?” Asami put her arm around Opal’s shoulder to make her feel uncomfortable but it didn’t work.

Opal laughed. “I would but not when you’re dating that hot Southern Water Triber. Go talk to Korra, and try not to get so horny around her.”

“Thanks Opal.”

Opal hugged Asami. “Anytime, bestie. Hmm, so Ginger and Mako are going out. You and Korra are together. I should start laying the hints more with Bolin.”

“He still hasn’t asked you? We might need to rectify that,” Asami said in her best scheming voice.

 

A few hours later, Asami drove home from Opal’s feeling a lot better. She’d speak to Korra when she got home to tell her how she felt. She came to the conclusion that she would have to accept if Korra didn’t feel as strongly, and it was perhaps better to end things now before she fell even deeper for her step-sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, I know they didn't have sex but I admit I was getting turned on writing this. I don't know how you writers of smut do it!
> 
> Korra's point of view in the next chapter.


	9. First Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continues on from the previous chapter. So what's going through Korra's mind?

Korra walked on the pavement, hands in her pockets and eyes glazed over on Naga’s white fur. Asami was half-naked on her bed and Korra left her there. She shook her head as though that would make the regret go away but it didn’t help. She could faintly smell Asami’s perfume on her shirt. She could feel Asami’s lips on her neck. She could feel her hand on Asami’s breast.

She wanted to turn around, head back to the house and show Asami how she felt but what good would that do. She would just panic again. So Korra continued to walk the lonely streets until she reached the quaint little house with the eggplant garden at the front. She opened the front gate, tied Naga’s leash onto it, headed towards the front door and rang the doorbell.

 

Korra sat on Mako’s bed. She stopped fidgeting for a moment to take the glass of water that Mako offered her.

“Sorry for coming over unannounced,” Korra said. She felt bad that Mako had to kick Bolin out of the room they shared so that ‘the grown-ups could talk’ but Bolin was having fun playing with Naga from the sounds of Naga’s happy barks outside.

“You’re always welcome here.” Mako’s smile reminded Korra that underneath his stoicism, he was a very caring friend who she could talk to. “What brings you by?”

Asking her ex-boyfriend for advice about sex would be weird but Korra needed someone to talk to. Although Bolin was her best friend who she loved dearly, she knew his only sexual experiences involved making his Sims woohoo in a hot tub. And Korra had a feeling that Mako and Asami were intimate when they dated. 

She drank her glass of water down. Without beating around the bush, she asked, “Are you still a virgin?”

Mako coughed and scrunched his eyebrows. “Um…” He looked very uncomfortable but he answered, “No… I’m not.”

Korra felt jealousy at the revelation but it was short-lived however when Mako continued, “It was after you and I broke up. One of the older girls at work had broken up with her boyfriend and she was looking for a rebound as well.”

Korra felt immense relief that she was wrong about Asami being his first. She hardly felt any jealousy about finding out that her ex-boyfriend rebounded so fast. “And how was it?”

“It was wet… … from her crying.”

“Are you that bad?”

“No,” Mako laughed. “We were getting into it but she started to cry because she was still upset about her boyfriend and then we stopped. Not the most ideal first time.”

Korra tried not to laugh. “Say, if you’ve never done it before and a very attractive person wanted to have sex with you but you panicked and left, is there something wrong with you?”

“Of course not. Just because everybody at school is sleeping around, that doesn’t mean you’re weird for wanting to wait. Why do you ask? Does this have anything to do with the hickey on your neck?”

Korra rubbed the spot on her neck where Asami had sucked on it. The thought sent shivers down her spine. “Yes.”

“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.” Mako frowned.

There was no point in hiding it. Mako would have found out eventually.

 

His reaction was priceless. Sitting on the bed next to Korra looking shell-shocked. Korra could only imagine what was going through his head at that moment. He finally spoke. “So, the first girl I ever slept with cried during sex… and now I find out my ex-girlfriends are dating each other. Wow. If I find out that Ginger is sleeping with Bolin...”

Korra laughed loud but stopped suddenly. “Wait. Ginger?”

+++

Korra had left her phone in her room in her haste to leave so she called her mother using Mako’s phone to let her know that Mako’s grandmother asked her to stay for dinner.

“That’s fine honey,” Senna said on the other end. “I’ll come by and pick you up later okay.”

Korra nodded as if her mother could see that over the call. She hung up the phone and then joined Mako, Bolin and Grandma Yin for an amazing stir-fried dinner. 

Later, the headlights from the car parked on the street told her that her mother was here to pick her up. She thanked Grandma Yin for the dinner but not before Grandma Yin commented about what muscular arms Korra had. “Thanks you too,” Korra said.

The talk Korra and Mako had helped clear her head and Korra resolved to use the drive back home to gather her thoughts so she could tell Asami why she was being such a frigid little bitch. But _oh crap_ , it wasn’t her mother at the front door. It was Asami. “Hey, your mother asked me if I could come pick you up,” she said in a soft voice.

“Hey…” Korra said as she forced a smile.

 

The drive back was silent except for Naga’s occasional bark and the stereo playing a tune about getting it on tonight. Why was every song on the damn radio about sex? They exchanged looks at stop lights but neither said anything. Korra couldn’t remember the last time it had been this awkward between the two of them.

“Thanks for picking me up.” Korra finally broke the silence when they pulled up to the house.

“That’s cool,” Asami said. She gave the same forced smile Korra did earlier.

They remained seated. Asami tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while Korra stared intensely at an imaginary spot on the back of her hand. Korra let out a deep breath and was about to spill her emotions when a loud bark from Naga startled both Korra and Asami.

“I should get her to her bed,” said Korra. Asami gave her a small nod in acknowledgement.

 

Korra trudged up the stairs after she put Naga to bed. She’d better go talk to Asami before she lost her nerve. She marched towards Asami’s room. The door was closed. Korra was too caught up in what she was going to say that she forgot to knock. When she opened the door, she was greeted to a topless Asami wearing only her pyjama bottoms.

“I’m sorry, I should really learn to knock,” Korra said with a blush and a sense of déjà vu. 

Instead of averting her eyes, she continued to stare at Asami who had covered her breasts with an arm. She looked goddess like with her hair swept to the side. The sight made Korra forget why she was in that room in the first place. Asami was topless and Korra had not gone into a state of panic. She walked over to Asami and wrapped her arms around her caressing the soft skin on her back. She kissed her and Asami kissed her back.

They fell on to the bed with Korra on top of Asami. Korra stroked the side of Asami’s body.

They kissed like it was the end of the world but it was Asami this time who put a stop to things. “Wait, wait. Korra. Is this what you want?”

Korra responded by placing a kiss on Asami’s neck.

“But we need to talk about earlier,” Asami said. Korra stopped and leaned on her elbows to look at Asami.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Korra said as they both sat up, sitting side by side. Asami put on the shirt that she had intended to put on earlier and Korra felt a little bit disappointed. But then again, that’s probably how Asami felt when she left her half-naked in her bed earlier.

After a few seconds, Asami said, “Korra, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have pressured you like that. If you only want this now because I pressured you then we should stop.”

“I should be the one apologising. I shouldn't have left like that. I was just scared. I’ve never done this before.”

“You haven't? Not even with Mako?”

From her voice, Korra could tell she felt relieved the way Korra did which made her smile. “No, not even with Mako.”

Asami sighed. “I thought for a second there you didn’t like me as much as I like you.”

“Oh my god. Please don’t ever think that.” Korra put her arm around Asami’s shoulder. “It’s me. I was scared that you wouldn’t like me as much if we had sex and it wasn’t what you expected.”

“Wait, who was Mako’s first time with?” Asami asked a bit distractedly. 

“A girl at his work. There were tears involved.” Korra ignored Asami's confused look. There was another question she needed to know the answer to. “Have _you_ ever done this before?”

“No.”

“Not even with Haru?”

“No, thank goodness. But I want to with you Korra. But we don't have to do this if you're not ready.”

Korra thought about it. Asami without a shirt on was definitely enough to get her started but Asami was right. Korra wasn't ready quite yet. “If you're willing to wait,” Korra said.

"That's cool,” Asami said trying to be cool. Korra laughed at her. Asami then asked in a shy manner, “But do you want to sleep in here with me tonight?”

“I’d like that,” Korra said.

 

After Korra washed up and changed into her sleepwear, she crept over to Asami’s room. Asami lay on the bed with her phone in her hand but she put it on her bedside table when Korra snuck into the room. Korra made her way to the other side of the bed and crawled under the covers. Asami turned off the lamp and Korra felt Asami grab her arm to move her closer.

“We should do this more often,” Asami said. “I wish we didn’t have to sneak around. If you weren’t such a bitch when you first got here, we could have dated before our parents did.”

Korra laughed and hugged Asami tighter. “If only I realised sooner that it was Mako I was jealous of and not you when you two were together. We could have avoided all that crying.”

“So speaking of crying… Mako’s first time?” Asami wasn’t going to let Korra sleep until she told her all about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! Hope you like this chapter. It took a while to write because I was initially going to have them break up but I like my happy Korrasami.


	10. A Stolen Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiroshi and Senna get married. Asami graduates and goes on her celebratory trip to the beach.

Hiroshi and Senna's wedding was a small and intimate gathering on a beautiful September day. They both agreed on a small wedding since it was the second time for both of them to be married. The bride and groom married at the registries. Hiroshi wore a white suit and Asami thought Senna looked beautiful in the simple but elegant white dress she wore.

Asami wore a backless red dress that left Korra a little bit speechless, while Korra picked a lace blue dress. “You clean up nicely,” Asami said when Korra emerged at the top of the stairwell like a scene from a movie.

It was hard for Asami to keep her eyes off Korra throughout the wedding. And she could tell Korra shared the same issue by the amount of times she caught Korra staring back at her.

In a corner of the rooftop terrace bar where the reception was held, Asami, Korra, Opal, Bolin and Mako sat and drank non-alcoholic cocktails. “Could you two be anymore obvious with the staring?” Opal teased. “It's a wonder that your parents haven't picked up on it.”

Korra who took a sip of Asami's passion fruit drink said, “I think they're too busy staring at each other the way Asami stares at me to notice.”

Asami lightly punched Korra’s arm in response and Opal laughed. Asami looked over at the dancefloor where true enough, her father and new step-mother were slow dancing to Spandau Ballet’s ‘True’ while staring deeply into each other's eyes. Some of the other couples were also slow dancing around them including Suyin and Baatar, and Lin and Kya.

“I think you and Korra should go slow dance,” said Bolin. “Nothing wrong with two step-sisters sharing a dance at their parents’ wedding.”

“I agree with Bolin for once,” his brother Mako said. He looked handsome in his tux.

Asami was surprised when a usually cautious Korra said, “Only if Bolin dances with Opal.”

“Um.” Bolin looked as red as the drink in his hand.

“Let's go then Bolin.”

The three left seated laughed as a blushing Bolin was taken to the dancefloor by Opal. Korra held her hand out for Asami to take. Asami took it and the two girls, with mischievous grins on their faces, grabbed an unsuspecting Mako's arms and pulled him to the dancefloor with them.

Mako learned that it was hard to put up a fight when he was being sandwiched by two beautiful girls. He gave in and put his arms around Korra and Asami's waists, and the three of them swayed in a mini-circle on the dancefloor.

“Three is a crowd,” Mako said with a smile when the song ended. He kissed both of them on the cheek and then headed towards the bar to leave the two alone.

The next power ballad played and Asami with her arm still around Korra's waist smiled at her. The two embraced and then mimicked the slow dance positions of the people around them. Korra put her hands on Asami's shoulders and Asami put her hands on Korra's hips. They left a respectable distance between them so as not to arouse suspicion.

“You look beautiful, Miss Korra Sato,” Asami said with a grin. “Are you going to change your surname?”

“Hm... as much as I would love to. I don't think so. I think I'll keep...” Korra was distracted by something behind Asami. “Woo!”

Asami turned around to find Bolin and Opal sharing a kiss. The other guests turned their heads to see what the commotion was about. Bolin pulled away, blushing even more. Asami grinned wider at Opal while the other guests joined Korra who clapped her hands in excitement.

Asami would have to ask Opal later whether that meant her and Bolin were finally a thing. But for now, Asami turned her attention back to Korra when the clapping subsided and they returned to their previous position. She was careful not to hold Korra’s gaze too long but Asami suddenly felt eyes on her and looked around to find Jinora who sat beside Mako at the bar. She gave Asami a cool nod and a sly thumbs up.

“What are you smiling at?” Korra asked.

“Just… everything,” Asami said.

After enjoying a few dances with Korra, she felt something tug at her dress and Meelo popped up beside her. “Korra, I want to dance with Asami.”

Asami could tell Korra was too amused to argue with the little kid. “My lord.” Korra gave him a bow before she headed to where the bride and groom were to surprise them with a hug.

Afterwards, Asami shared a dance with her father. “Congratulations dad.”

“Thank you, dear.” After a moment of silence, he said “I’m glad you and Korra could put aside your differences and get along. You don’t know how much that meant to Senna and I.”

“You’re welcome,” Asami laughed. “Korra’s still stubborn and arrogant but she grew on me.” To say the least.

“I can tell that you and Korra love each other…” Hiroshi said and Asami tried her best to hide her panic. Has he finally caught on? “… As sisters.”

Asami kissed her father on the cheek at the end of the song, and breathed a sigh of relief once Hiroshi returned to Senna’s side.

The reception lasted until midnight. Asami and Korra were all danced out by the time they headed home. Asami kissed Korra goodnight and walked to her bedroom. She washed her make-up off, changed into her nightgown and hung a Polaroid of her and Korra that Opal took during the wedding reception by her study desk before she headed to bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

 

It felt like the only moment of rest Asami had in the coming weeks before the stress of studying for her final ever high school exams took over. Korra was the ever-supportive girlfriend. Making Asami coffee when she asked for it, giving her massages, carrying her back to her bed when she’d fallen asleep at her desk. Asami would thank her by sneaking in the occasional make-out sessions.

Come late November, and it was all over. Asami graduated dux of the school much to the surprise of no one except the son of the Cabbage Corp CEO. She attended her high school formal as Mako and Ginger’s dates. And finally, she was ready to head to the beach for her celebratory graduation trip with Ginger and Opal.

+++

Korra missed Asami the minute she drove off to the beach with Ginger and Opal to celebrate her graduation. It was only one week, Korra thought. She’ll be back. “She won’t do anything I should worry about with the thousands of underage drunks that will be there,” Korra said to her purple unicorn. 

With Asami gone and school over for the rest of the year, Korra caught up on her exercises and weight training. Day two without Asami, Korra got a message from Bolin asking her if she wanted to stay over his place for the week and for her to bring her swimwear in case they wanted to go for a swim somewhere. She replied accepting his invitation.

When Bolin and Grandma Yin pulled up on the driveway the next day, Korra didn’t realise anything was wrong until Grandma Yin missed the turn to their house. Korra wondered whether she had gotten senile and whether she should still be allowed to drive, but it all made sense when they were on the highway heading to the beach where Asami and Opal were staying. 

“Um, Bolin. What’s going on? Where are we going?” Korra asked from the backseat of the car.

“To spy on our girlfriends. That’s where,” said Bolin.

“Bo!” said a shocked Korra. “You’re stalking Opal. Don’t you trust her?”

“It’s not Opal I don’t trust, Korra. It’s the horny, drunk, muscly guys hitting on her that I don’t trust. Aren’t you worried about Asami?”

“Yes I am but I trust her. _And_ I bought her a new one-piece swimsuit to wear for her trip.” Korra was rather proud of herself for doing that. She didn’t want anyone else’s prying eyes on Asami in that red bikini she wore on the last family vacation. “Do you intend for us to stay at the beach for the week?”

“Yes.”

“How did you even get accommodation? Everything would be all booked out.”

“I have my ways,” Bolin said in a very ominous way.

 

“Welcome Korra,” came the unmistakable voice of the smug son of the Cabbage Corp CEO, Gen.

Korra could burn holes in the side of Bolin’s head from the way she stared at him. “Can I go stay with your Grandma at your cousins’ place? She can teach me how to macramé during the week. Anything but here.”

“Come on. It will be fun,” said Bolin. “Now, Opal and the others are staying in this building. Two floors down.”

Korra entered the apartment Gen’s parents owned and greeted Gen’s friends out of politeness. They were engrossed in a video game instead of enjoying the beautiful sun outdoors. Korra was stunned by how good the view was. She sat her bags down in the room she would be sharing with Bolin, and then headed to the balcony where she could see the ocean and the people walking leisurely along or jogging on the pavement near the beach. She tried to see if she could spot Asami but it was hard to make out anyone from up there.

“How did you convince Gen to let us stay with him?” Korra asked as she sat out on the balcony with Bolin.

“…”

“Bo…”

“…”

“Bo!”

Bolin squirmed and then said, “I told him we would help him and his friends hook up with girls in exchange for letting us stay here.”

“Bo! We’re not experts in picking up chicks.”

“Relax Korra. Have you seen your girlfriend? You’re undervaluing yourself. We just need to start the conversations, introduce them to Gen and his friends and then the rest is up to them. And then we can go stalk our girlfriends.”

“Fine. I’m only agreeing because this view is amazing.”

 

That night, Korra, Bolin and others found themselves at the pool side where one of the hotel guests had organised a pool party. Korra was surrounded by girls in their bikinis and boys in their board shorts. Korra wore her swimwear under her short shorts and white t-shirt. Gen and his friends looked scrawny in their shorts next to some of the other boys.

They found an empty pool chair to sit in.

“Okay, Gen. Which one of these ladies takes your fancy?” Bolin asked and Korra rolled her eyes.

Gen scanned the area until his gaze fell on a girl sitting by the pool bar with short dark hair, a polka dot bikini and nerd glasses. She was with a friend by the looks of it.

“Okay, Korra. Go for it.” Bolin nudged Korra off the seat to go talk to the girl.

“Why me? Why can’t we both go?”

“We don’t want to overwhelm them with our charm.”

“You’re overvaluing yourself.” Korra groaned then grabbed the can of vodka and passion fruit that Bolin held and took a swig before she walked slowly over to the bar where the target was. Korra turned around to see a hopeful looking Gen and Bolin who gave her a thumbs up.

Korra sat in the seat next to the girl, bopping her head to the music before the girl made eye contact with her and smiled. Korra smiled back, a little too widely, but that didn’t scare off the girl. “Cool party,” Korra said when the girl’s friend walked off to use the bathroom. She took another swig of the vodka can trying to be as cool as possible but she cringed on the inside.

“It’s okay,” the girl said. “I don’t even like being around this many people but my best friend said we should experience the week after high school graduation where we can act like tools and drink underage. It’s the only time where we can get away with it before we become adults.”

Korra nodded in acknowledgement although she still had a year of school before she deserved the right to act like a tool.

“Are you here with friends?” the girl asked.

“Yeah. My best friend Bolin. That nerd next to him is Gen and his friends Liu and Toru. I’m Korra, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ami. Nice to meet you too. My friend Erika went to the bathroom.”

“You guys should join us when your friend gets back from the bathroom. I get bored listening to their guy talk sometimes.”

“I’ll see what my friend says.” Ami gave Korra a smile.

Korra flashed her a grin back and walked back to her friends.

 

That seemed to work and Korra gave Gen a wink when Ami came and sat beside him. Watching Gen interact with her was almost like watching someone try to assemble a complex piece of furniture with no instruction booklet. He had no clue what he was doing.

When Korra asked Ami if she played video games and she said she did, that seemed to get the conversation going between the two.

Ami’s friend Erika, had sat down beside Korra and the two were making small talk while Korra would check every now and then that Gen’s head hadn’t exploded. Bolin was off with Liu and Toru chatting up some other girls who had arrived at the party. Korra was on her fourth vodka when Erika asked if she was seeing anyone.

“Yeah, I am,” Korra said. “She’s amazing.”

“ _She_?” Erika raised her eyebrow.

“Hm-mm. Are you seeing anyone?”

“No. I broke up with my boyfriend a couple of weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“He was a nice guy but I don’t know. I never felt butterflies or anything for him whenever we kissed,” Erika said. She stared just a little bit too long at Korra while Korra was too oblivious at that moment to notice.

“You’re a pretty girl,” said Korra. She placed her hand on Erika’s knee. “I’m sure you’ll meet someone.”

Erika gave Korra’s mouth a lingering gaze. It happened too fast and soon Erika had pulled Korra in for a kiss. Korra was too dazed at first but pulled back. “Um, I’m sorry,” Korra said.

“Korra?”

Korra looked to the side at the sound of her name. “Ah-Asami?”


	11. Almost Adults

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stolen kiss, part two!

Asami felt the spring breeze in her hair and the sun on her cheeks and let out a sigh. She had a week to relax, drink until she was drunk, and party with her friends. Afterwards she could think about the real world. Think about which university offers she would get and which one she would accept.

Asami was turning eighteen soon. Korra still had a year of high school to go but maybe when Korra graduated, they could move out of their parents' place and into their own apartment with a little more privacy where they wouldn't have to worry about their parents walking in on them.

It was just a thought. A thought that excited her but first, Asami had to complete the gruelling task that was sunbathing at the beach. She wore the swimsuit that Korra had bought her as a graduation present. Korra would never admit it but Asami knew she bought the one-piece to stop people staring at her. The wolf-whistles she received at the beach told her that Korra’s strategy didn’t work.

“Some of the men here are good-looking,” Ginger said as she laid on her beach towel, resting on her elbows and eyeing the people around her through her oversized sunglasses.

Asami didn’t take much notice of the people around her. She was too focused on the post-workout picture that Korra just sent her.

"We should find you a boyfriend while we're here Asami,” Ginger said.

Ginger was distracted by the plethora of options for Asami to notice the sideways glance that Asami and Opal shared through their equally oversized sunglasses. “Sure,” said Asami.

“What's your type now anyway?” Ginger asked.

Asami pretended to think about it. “Brown skin. Toned,” Asami said which was followed by a giggle from Opal.

Ginger hummed as she eyed the people around them again, while Asami sent a picture back to Korra of her in her swimsuit and a text that said “Miss you”.

 

The next night, after they ate their takeaway pizza and drank the white wine that Ginger stole from her father’s liquor cabinet, the trio of friends headed to the pool area of their apartment building where someone had organised a pool party. Much like the beach, the pool was crowded with teenagers enjoying their newfound freedom from high school. They found a few lounge chairs to sit and continue the drinking while they listened to the tropical house beats that played over the speakers.

It was Asami’s turn to get drinks. As she waited in the line, she looked around the place to keep herself entertained. Unsure if she was tipsy and seeing things from the trippy pool lights, Asami saw a girl in a white t-shirt who looked remarkably like Korra talking in close proximity to another girl. The other girl seemed much more interested and when the Korra lookalike put her hand on the other’s knee, the other pulled her in for a kiss. It was when they pulled away and Asami had seen a similar dazed look on Korra’s face before, did she realise it _was_ Korra. Asami had walked over to where they were and called out Korra’s name.

“Ah-Asami?”

Asami didn’t give Korra a chance to explain. She walked away when the wave of jealousy that washed over her became too much. The other girl wasn’t even as pretty as her. Asami hated to think that way about other girls but she wasn’t all that much in control of her emotions at the moment.

She walked back empty-handed towards where Ginger and Opal sat waiting for their drinks. Korra followed her and asked her to wait. “That’s not what that looked like,” Korra said. She touched Asami’s arm to plead with her but Asami retracted.

“Were you just giving her CPR in a sitting position?” Asami asked with a sharpness in her voice.

“No. No,” Korra was flustered. “I undervalued myself. We were just talking and she kissed me before I could do anything.”

“What are you even doing here? I thought you were staying at Bolin’s place.”

“Korra, what are you doing here?” Opal had walked up to them and gave Korra a hug, unwittingly interrupting the tension between Asami and Korra. “I thought you were staying at Bolin’s place.” Opal repeated, but in a much friendlier tone. 

“Opal, I’m going to head back to the apartment,” Asami said. “I feel a little light-headed.”

Opal gave the two of them suggestive looks. While Korra pointed out to Opal where Bolin was, Asami headed towards the elevator in hopes of getting away. 

“Asami. Don’t be mad. Please.” Korra had rushed over to her and they both stood by the elevators.

Asami ignored her and when the elevator came, Asami stepped inside. They always knew when to give each other space and Asami was glad when Korra didn’t follow her inside the elevator. “Good night Korra,” Asami said and the door closed between them.

+++

When she realised that she didn’t have a key card to go back to Gen’s apartment, Korra returned to the pool party while the other guests splashed about with not a care in the world.

“You did it,” Bolin hugged her when he saw her.

“Did what?” Unintentionally ruin her relationship with Asami, she thought.

“Look in the corner,” Bolin said.

Korra did to find Gen and Ami sucking face. “That’s great,” Korra pretended to be excited. Although, even in her current state of panic, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the fascinating scene that was watching Gen kissing a girl. Korra thought he kissed like a fish and continued to stare at them for what felt like several hours. She didn’t have anything better to do anyway since Bolin was off somewhere with Opal. She’d drafted a dozen messages in the time that passed to Asami but never sent any of them.

“Sorry, I was tipsy,” said Erika who had appeared suddenly beside Korra. She handed Korra an unopened can of cider, almost like a peace offering. “Your eyes just looked so pretty with the pool water reflected on it.”

“…”

“Was that your girlfriend? She’s pretty. Are you mad at me?”

“Yes,” Korra said bluntly. “…but I’ll get over it. I’m flattered, Erika, really.”

“I’m sorry. I knew you had a girlfriend but I kissed you anyway. Do you want me to apologise to her?”

“No,” Korra breathed out. “She has to talk to me eventually.” Since they lived together. Asami couldn’t avoid her forever.

Erika was about to put her hand on Korra’s knee but thought against it. “For what it’s worth, you’re a good kisser.”

“You got that from a one second kiss?”

“Hm-mm. I’ve always known deep down why my ex-boyfriend never gave me butterflies but I guess you confirmed it,” Erika said taking a very long swig from her cider. “Thanks for the help.”

Korra smiled at her, with sincereness. “Well, I’m glad I could help you with that.”

Korra and Erika sat and stared at Gen and Ami still going at it in the corner. “He kisses like a fish,” Erika said.

“Agree.”

 

Korra woke up the next morning, feeling like she was being crushed by a tonne of bricks. It was only Bolin spooning her.

“Bo,” she grumbled.

Once Korra could finally get out of bed and left a snoring Bolin in the room, she looked in the refrigerator to find it was filled with soda and some cheese sticks. She groaned. If only Bolin had told her where they were going to begin with, she could have brought food. She headed to the ground level to go to the nearest convenience store. Korra bought chocolate, an iced chocolate, and a glazed donut. She also bought an apple because she could hear her mother’s voice in her head judging her food choices.

When Korra exited the store, she was focussed on getting the peppermint flavoured chocolate from the bag when she bumped into someone. “Hi,” a flustered Korra said. How convenient bumping into her like this. Also, did Asami wake up like that? So elegant and beautiful.

“Hi,” Asami said back. At least Asami was talking to her again. They stared at each other and Korra could feel her heart beating. “Could you wait for me?”

Korra nodded and watched Asami walk into the convenience store. When Asami came out, they walked along the mall area until they got to the beach. Neither of them said anything until they sat in the sand. Asami got fruit for breakfast, and Korra feeling a little embarrassed took out her apple instead of the glazed donut. She took a bite and chewed. For a while, the only sounds were from Korra's chewing and the sound of the waves.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Korra said for what felt like the millionth time. “Bolin promised Gen and his friends we’d help them talk to girls, and I started talking to these two girls for Gen. And Gen was talking to one of them and he was actually making conversation with her, you know. He was actually talking about other topics besides how rich he is. I stayed near him and ended up talking to the other girl most of the night. Her name is Erika. I didn’t think I was giving her vibes or anything. You know, I even told her I had a girlfriend but she still –.” 

Korra was cut off by the taste of Asami’s lips upon hers. It was apple flavoured.

“It’s okay,” Asami said softly. She caressed Korra's cheek with her thumb, and Korra felt like she could melt right then and there. "Opal told me you came with Bolin to spy on her and me." 

“Yes," Korra said with a guilty look. "You’re not angry with me about that kiss?” She didn’t look directly at Asami, instead she stared out at a surfer in the distance.

“I was but I’m not anymore. I was a little jealous at the way she looked at you. I feel like only I should be allowed to look at you that way,” Asami sighed. “Sorry, I don’t want you to think I’m a next level clinger or anything but I suppose you know how I feel since you're here spying on me with Bolin.”

Korra laughed. She reached out to grab Asami’s hands. “And I did buy you that swimsuit because I didn’t want anyone else looking at you, so you're right. I know exactly how you feel.”

“Ha! I _knew_ that’s why you got it.” Asami swayed to the side a bit so that her shoulders bumped Korra’s and they shared a laugh. “For your information, your plan didn’t work.”

“Hm?”

“I still got whistled at, at the beach.”

Korra looked Asami up and down as if to say she wasn’t surprised. “I need to buy you a wetsuit next.”

They ate their fruit and Korra’s junk food, then walked along the beach and found a secluded area obscured from any people passing through on the boardwalk by rocks and trees. They sat and chatted about being almost adults. Asami mentioned that they should find an apartment together once Korra graduated, and Korra was keen on the idea.

“Can we bring Naga too?”

“Yes,” Asami smiled. “One of us has to learn how to cook.”

“I vote Naga.”

Asami laughed.

“So, we’re cool?” Korra asked.

“Yeah, we’re cool. But…” Asami held one of Korra’s hands and interlocked them. “… I just want you to know you can let me know if you ever want out of this relationship.”

“What?”

“I have this irrational fear that I’ll be in a relationship with someone for so long that we get to a point where we can’t talk to each other. And then we end up cheating on each other for the thrill of it.”

“I have this irrational fear about ghost girls crawling out of my TV,” Korra said. “That’s not what that kiss with the other girl was about. I didn't want that…” Korra stuttered.

Asami gave Korra’s hand a squeeze. “I know, but I love you and I just wanted you to know that you can talk to me about anything.”

Korra didn’t respond. Instead she had the same dazed look she did last night and the same look when Asami kissed her once in the Range Rover.

“Korra, are you okay?” Asami let go of Korra’s hand and put her hands on Korra’s arms.

“Yes…” Korra blushed. “You just said you loved me.”

“So? I do love you.”

Korra gasped and blushed brighter. “You said it again. You said it first. Out of the both of us, you said it first.”

Asami looked confused.

“I always thought I’d be the one to say it first,” said Korra with a smug look on her face.

Asami rolled her eyes. “You’re so childish.”

“But you love me,” Korra said. She stood from the rock they sat on and pulled Asami into a hug that Asami wasn't expecting. “I wanted to say it to you at our parents’ wedding when we were slow dancing but there were too many people around.”

Korra moved her arms and wrapped them around Asami's shoulders. Asami understood, wrapped her arms around Korra's waist, and they began to gently sway as they did at the wedding but with no distance between them this time. Korra felt Asami's warm body against hers and smiled.

“ _I bought a ticket to the world, but now I’ve come back again_.” Korra began to sing for only Asami to hear. “ _Why do I find it hard to write the next line? Oh I want the truth to be said_.”

“You’re hopeless,” Asami smiled.

 

Everything was going well again. A little too well. And when Korra and Asami returned to the apartment to find Bolin waiting for them in the lobby holding Korra's phone, Korra knew that something was wrong.

“Korra,” Bolin said sullenly handing Korra her phone. Korra unlocked her phone to find ten missed calls from her mother. “Your mother called me. She said she wanted you to get home as soon as you could. She said to tell you that there was an accident in the Southern Water Tribe. Korra, your father’s in a coma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The storm before the calm...

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy and leave a comment.


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